Circle processes $68 million in half an hour utilizing its stablecoin for internal transactions.

The stablecoin issuer utilized its Mint platform for intercompany transactions, substituting bank wire transfers that frequently take days to finalize, according to CEO Jeremy Allaire.

Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Circle Speaks at Hong Kong Fintech Week in 2024 (HK Fintech Week)

Key points:

• The stablecoin issuer Circle processed $68 million across its eight entities using USDC, bypassing traditional banking methods with transfers completed in less than 30 minutes, as stated by CEO Jeremy Allaire.
• The company noted that this procedure replaces bank wire transfers, which generally take one to three days to finalize.
• Upcoming enhancements to Circle Mint are anticipated in March, focusing on operations involving multiple entities within the treasury.

Circle has initiated the use of its own stablecoin framework to facilitate monetary transfers among its internal entities, successfully settling $68 million in transactions using USDC, CEO Jeremy Allaire disclosed on Saturday.

The transfers were carried out through Circle Mint, the organization’s platform for minting and redeeming USDC. The company’s treasury department utilized the system to manage intercompany transfer pricing — standard internal payments between subsidiaries — which would typically be conducted via bank wires.

Such transfers often require one to three days to settle and are subject to banking hours and cut-off schedules. In contrast, stablecoin settlements operate continuously, with the company completing the transfers in under 30 minutes, as noted by Allaire in an X post.

During the initial month of this arrangement, Circle executed over $68 million across 11 transactions involving eight entities. The firm reported that approximately 90% of its transfer pricing activities were concluded within a single day.

Treasury teams executed the payments utilizing role-based permissions and approval workflows within Mint, a configuration designed to replicate controls commonly found in corporate banking portals. The platform also generates transaction-level reports that align with bank statement standards, enabling accounting teams to reconcile on-chain transfers with internal ledgers and external accounting systems.

A recurring issue in intercompany transfers is “cash in transit,” where funds depart one entity but cannot be recorded as available by the recipient until the payment is cleared. The use of stablecoin settlements mitigates this delay, as transfers are confirmed within minutes.

Circle indicated that forthcoming updates to Mint will concentrate on multi-entity treasury operations, including simplified transfers between accounts and APIs that integrate transaction reporting with accounting systems like Oracle.

The firm stated that these changes are set to be implemented in March, as noted in a blog post.