Circle Ventures and Crossmint Collaborate to Expand USDC Stablecoin

According to Cointelegraph, Circle Ventures, the venture capital arm of stablecoin company Circle, has partnered with crypto infrastructure firm Crossmint to enhance the reach of the USDC stablecoin across various blockchain platforms. This collaboration aims to extend USDC's accessibility to billions of users, including AI agents. Crossmint highlighted that by integrating its wallets and APIs for stablecoin onramps, orchestration, and agentic payments with USDC, they are setting the stage for a new financial era characterized by near-instant money transfers, global access, and systems designed for both humans and machines. The support for AI agents by Crossmint comes amid growing expectations that these agents will become significant users of Ethereum, unlocking numerous opportunities for on-chain e-commerce applications. Members of Coinbase’s development team, Kevin Leffew and Lincoln Murr, noted that AI agents could utilize stablecoins for various purposes, such as paying for self-driving taxis and publishing content on demand, with apps automatically using stablecoins for permanent data storage. In countries experiencing high inflation, stablecoins are increasingly being used as a means to secure wealth. In Argentina, for instance, individuals are turning to "crypto caves" to purchase US dollar stablecoins to circumvent strict currency controls and combat high inflation. Recently, MoneyGram announced the launch of its crypto payments app in Colombia, utilizing Crossmint’s infrastructure and self-custody solution. This app provides locals with a new method to receive and store USDC as an alternative to the weakening Colombian peso. MoneyGram, which serves over 50 million customers in more than 190 countries, is expanding the number of users who can rely on Crossmint’s technology to save in stablecoins. Despite these developments, Tether (USDT) continues to dominate the stablecoin market. It has recorded nearly $100 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours, significantly surpassing USDC’s $10.3 billion, according to CoinGecko data. USDT's market cap stands at $173 billion, well above USDC’s $74.1 billion. The USDT supply on the Tron network exceeded $80 billion in June, with its fast and low-cost transfers making it a preferred option for sending digital dollars in developing countries. In addition to its partnership with Circle Ventures, Crossmint announced another collaboration earlier this week with the team behind the layer-1 payments-focused blockchain Tempo. This partnership is part of Crossmint’s broader initiative to promote stablecoin adoption. Tempo was incubated by the payments infrastructure platform Stripe, which processed over $1.4 trillion in volume in 2024, and the crypto investment firm Paradigm.