Circle launches ‘points-to-crypto’ program with Taiwan convenience store chain

October 26, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Circle

The partnership will allow FamilyMart customers to exchange their loyalty points for the Circle-issued USDC.

United States-based stablecoin issuer Circle has announced a partnership with Taiwan’s second-largest convenience store chain, FamilyMart, and a local crypto exchange, BitoGroup. According to the company’s press release from Oct. 26, it will deliver a new “Points-to-Crypto” service on the FamilyMart app.

This will allow FamilyMart customers to exchange loyalty points for the Circle-issued USD Coin (USDC). Customers will be able to withdraw the equivalent of FamiPoints to their BitoPro wallets. The release explains:

“Converting FamiPoints into USDC prevents a loss of value in loyalty points over time and incurs zero transaction fees, democratizing access to cryptocurrencies.”

Circle emphasizes the significance of loyalty points in Taiwan, citing a 2021 report by the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), which found that 87% of Taiwanese users engage in points accumulation, with an overwhelming 99% utilizing points for product redemptions.

FamilyMart’s FamiPoints have reportedly attracted over 17 million members nationwide, while BitoGroup claims a membership base of around 800,000 users.

In early October, Circle announced a strategic partnership with Coins.ph, a major cryptocurrency exchange and digital wallet provider in the Philippines.

Taiwan may get the first draft of a new crypto law by the end of November 2023. In September, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission formulated the key points for regulating Taiwan’s cryptocurrency market, releasing industry guidelines for virtual asset service providers operating in the country.

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USDC issuer partners with Philippines exchange to promote stablecoin

October 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Circle

18 million users of Coins.ph are expected to receive a faster, lower-cost and more accessible remittance option as a result of the new partnership with Circle.

Circle, the issuer of the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDC (USDC), is increasing its presence in the Philippines with a new local partnership.

On Oct. 10, Circle announced a strategic partnership with Coins.ph, a major cryptocurrency exchange and digital wallet provider in the Philippines.

As part of the partnership, Coins.ph and Circle will work jointly to drive awareness of USDC payments and help Filipino people pay less for cross-border money transfers and make faster transactions, the companies said.

The average cost of sending a $200 payment to Asia was 5.7% in 2022, they added, citing World Bank data. In the Philippines, the situation with remittances is even more complicated for the unbanked, which accounted for 44% of the adult population in 2021, according to the Philippines Central Bank.

“With a staggering $36.1 billion in remittance flows in 2022 alone remittances continue to be a vital contributor to the Philippines' economy,” but traditional remittance channels often involve high fees and lengthy transaction times, Circle and Coins.ph said in the joint announcement.

The latest partnership between the firms aims to improve the existing remittance landscape, starting in the Philippines, one of the world’s largest recipients of remittances globally. The project includes educational campaigns and community engagement initiatives to help Filipinos abroad learn to use USDC for remittances.

“Coins.ph’s partnership with Circle aims to show how USDC can provide a faster, lower-cost and more accessible remittance option for our 18 million Filipino users and their families and loved ones abroad,” Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou said. He added:

“Coupled with our recent innovations in Web3 technology, this initiative demonstrates Coins.ph’s commitment to providing users’ access to innovative services that have a tangible impact on their everyday lives.”

Founded in 2014, Coins.ph is a major cryptocurrency exchange in the Philippines, also allowing users to pay their bills and remit money using its digital wallet.

At the time of the announcement, USDC is not the only stablecoin listed on the Coins.ph exchange. According to data from CoinGecko, daily USDC trading volumes on Coins.ph amount to $44,500 and make up just around 13% of all daily trading in Tether (USDT), a major rival stablecoin. The exchange trades roughly $1 million per day at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.

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Wormhole integrates native USDC transfers for four blockchain networks

September 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

cctp

Wormhole integrated with Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, allowing USDC to be sent between Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum and Optimism.

Wormhole has integrated Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), allowing USD Coin (USDC) to be transferred between Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum and Optimism via Wormhole-based bridges, according to a Sept. 20 announcement.

The new feature is available to end-users via the Portal bridge, and developers can integrate it into their own apps using Wormhole Connect.

The Wormhole team claimed that the new integration will reduce liquidity issues and user confusion. “On these new and emerging chains, multiple versions of these bridged USDC tokens can exist,” it stated, “which can lead to fragmented liquidity, poor pricing, and a confusing experience for users and developers alike.” CCTP will help fix this problem by “creating a natively cross-chain USDC that can be burned and minted across connected chains,” it stated.

When Circle first issued USDC, it was only available on Ethereum. If a user wanted to transfer USDC to another chain, they needed to use a bridge to lock up their native USDC on Ethereum and mint a derivative version on the other chain. However, multiple bridging protocols with various derivative versions of USDC could sometimes cause confusion among end-users.

In 2021, Circle launched its stablecoin on a second chain, Stellar. It continued to launch on additional chains afterward, bringing the number of compatible networks to 14 as of Sept. 20.

But for a user to transfer native USDC from one network to another, they still needed to deposit their coins to a Circle partner’s account and then withdraw them to another network using that account. Partially because of this complexity, many users continued to use bridged versions of the coin instead of its native version.

On April 26, Circle launched CCTP, which is a set of smart contracts and an application programming interface (API) that can be used to burn USDC on one chain and have it be re-minted on another chain without the user needing to deposit to a Circle partner account.

At the time of its launch, CCTP only allowed transfers between Ethereum and Avalanche or vice-versa. Since then, it’s been expanded to support Optimism and Arbitrum networks as well. Circle plans to add additional networks in 2023, according to the protocol’s documents.

The Sept. 20 announcement states that CCTP has now been integrated into the Wormhole bridge interface, allowing Wormhole users to transfer native USDC between CCTP-supported chains for the first time. These networks currently include Ethereum, Optimism, Avalanche and Arbitrum.

Wormhole is not the only bridge that has implemented or intends to integrate with CCTP. Wanchan provides a similar feature, and according to Circle’s April 26 announcement, Celer, Hyperlane, LayerZero and LI.FI have also stated that they intend to implement it soon.

Crypto Biz: Coinbase-Circle re-alignment, Binance fiat hurdles, and USDC at Shopify

August 25, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

This week's Crypto Biz explores the latest on Binance's global on-ramps and off-ramps, Coinbase-Circle re-alignment, Shopify's take on USDC and China's blockchain data exchange.

Global regulatory landscapes are once again proving to be a turning point for crypto companies, demanding constant adaptation to navigate shallow regulatory waters across the world, particularly in the United States.

In the latest developments, Coinbase and Circle decided to dissolve the Centre Consortium in a strategic realignment driven by demand for regulatory clarity on stablecoins, possibly as an anticipation of upcoming legislation coming from the U.S. Congress.

A legal alternative to remaining operational was also sought by Binance.US this week. The exchange announced a partnership with MoonPay featuring the dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT) as its new “base asset” for all transactions, allowing a path for users to transact in U.S. dollars while possibly sidestepping potential regulatory hurdles.

In the meantime, global Binance continues facing challenges with on and off-ramps. Almost 30 days before Paysafe ends its support for fiat transactions in Europe, its users in the region are reporting difficulties with fiat withdrawals.

In this environment, fast adaptation is more than a strategy, it's a survival skill. For now, crypto firms dance to songs that are yet to be written.

This week's Crypto Biz explores the latest on Binance's global on-ramps and off-ramps, Coinbase-Circle re-alignment, Shopify's take on USDC and China's blockchain data exchange.

Binance limits withdrawals in Europe, cites payment processor issues

Customers of crypto exchange Binance are allegedly facing troubles with fiat withdrawals in Europe due to issues related to Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) transfers. The news comes a few months after Binance informed users that its euro banking partner, Paysafe Payment Solutions, would discontinue support for the crypto exchange by Sep. 25. After this date, users will have to update banking information and may be required to accept new terms and conditions to continue using SEPA services, the exchange said. Meanwhile, in the United States, Binance.US announced a new partnership with crypto payments firm MoonPay to make the dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT) its new “base asset” for all transactions, allowing a path for users to transact in U.S. dollars. Binance.US recently suffered a breakdown with its banking partners in the country, which saw fiat deposits on the exchange disabled since June.

Today, we're excited to introduce a new $USD on-ramp!

✔️ Buy $USDT on https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS through payment partners like @moonpay, which supports debit & credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

✔️ Sell USDT for USD to withdraw via bank transfer.

Learn more & get started ⤵️
— Binance.US (@BinanceUS) August 22, 2023

Coinbase takes equity stake in Circle as Centre Consortium shuts down

Coinbase and Circle have redefined their relationship as the Centre Consortium is being shut down for "growing regulatory clarity for stablecoins" in the United States. The two organizations jointly launched the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin in 2018 and have, since then, governed the token through the Centre Consortium. As the organization comes to an end, Circle will have enhanced responsibilities, including holding smart contract keys and regulatory compliance, while Coinbase takes an equity stake in Circle. Interest revenue will continue to be shared between them based on their holdings of the stablecoin. With a view to expanding its chain reach, USDC is also set to launch into Polkadot, Optimism, Near, Arbitrum and Cosmos networks.

1/ Some major news from @circle and @coinbase on the future of $USDC in this joint blog post from @brian_armstrong and I (@jerallaire). https://t.co/uHuxeRJtiI
— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) August 21, 2023

Shopify to accept USDC payments with Solana

E-commerce giant Shopify has added Solana Pay to its pool of options for payment, allowing millions of merchants to use the platform to accept crypto transactions, kicking off with USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin payments. Solana reportedly plans to add other altcoins to the platform in the coming months, including its native SOL (SOL) token and the meme token Bonk (BONK). Shopify estimates that 10% of all e-commerce transactions in the United States, or $444 billion of the world’s e-commerce market, are made through its platform. The network’s average charge is $0.00025 per transaction, while credit card fees range from 1.5% to 3.5%. In the last epoch, Solana’s users paid an average transaction fee of 0.000009664 SOL.

China launches blockchain-powered data exchange

Chinese government officials unveiled a new data exchange powered by blockchain technology with over 300 enterprises — including Alibaba Cloud and Huawei — participating in the exchange’s debut. According to local news reports, the new Hangzhou Data Exchange will facilitate trading of enterprise information technology data, ensuring exchange trades are immutable and traceable. Despite cracking down harshly on private blockchain enterprises for much of the year, China is a staunch supporter of government-controlled Web3 initiatives.

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Shopify to accept USDC payments with Solana: Report

August 23, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Solana Pay has reportedly been added to Shopify's payment solutions, giving millions of merchants access to cryptocurrencies.

According to TechCrunch, Solana plans to add other altcoins to the platform in the coming months, including its native token Solana (SOL) and the meme token Bonk Coin (BONK).

Josh Fried from Solana Labs branded the intersection of digital assets and payment solutions as the "killer app for crypto," adding that “[Everyone] should be doubling down on this.”

According to Fried, Solana Pay can drastically reduce transaction costs compared to credit card processing fees. The network average charge is $0.00025 per transaction, while credit card processing costs range from 1.5% to 3.5%. In the last epoch, Solana's users paid an average transaction fee of 0.000009664 SOL.

*Solana's average fee paid by users. Source: Solana*

Shopify estimates that 10% of all e-commerce transactions in the United States are made through their platform, or $444 billion of the world's e-commerce market. The company has gradually integrated Web3 solutions into its operations, including a suite of blockchain commerce tools for Web3-focused stores and crypto wallet connect features.

Shopify's volume will serve as a proving ground for the Solana blockchain. In previous years, Solana struggled with reliability and uptime issues. Its co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko dubbed the issues as a “curse” attributed to the network's low-cost transactions.

Recent statistics, however, indicate that the network performance is improving. According to its latest performance report, Solana has experienced 100% uptime since Feb. 25, marking an entire quarter without an outage. The single February outage saw the network knocked offline for almost 19 hours.

Launched in February 2022, Solana Pay is a peer-to-peer payment infrastructure that gives merchants the ability to accept and settle payment transactions across digital assets. The platform is a collaboration between Solana Labs, Checkout.com, Circle and Citcon, alongside wallet integrations from Phantom.

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Coinbase takes equity stake in Circle as USDC Centre Consortium shuts down

August 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Circle

Circle will take on full operational and governance responsibility after five years, thanks to increased regulatory clarity.

Coinbase and Circle have redefined their relationship, according to identical announcements on the Coinbaseand Circle blogs on Aug. 21. The two organizations jointly launched the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin and have until now governed the token through the Centre Consortium.

The Centre Consortium “will no longer exist as a stand-alone entity,” the blog past said, and governance and operations will be handled in-house. Circle will have enhanced responsibilities, including holding smart contract keys and regulatory compliance.

The crypto firms attributed the move to increased regulatory clarity:

“Circle and Coinbase […] Have agreed that with growing regulatory clarity for stablecoins in the U.S. and around the world, the requirement of a separate governance body like Centre, is no longer needed.”

Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said in an X (formerly Twitter) thread that Circle and Coinbase “are extending and deepening our commercial relationship, with Coinbase taking an equity stake in Circle.” No value was stated for the Coinbase share.

The new arrangement will increase the firms’ strategic and economic alignment, the blog posts noted. Interest revenue will continue to be shared between them based on their holdings of the stablecoin.

Circle and Coinbase launched USDC together in 2018. According to CoinGecko, USDC is the second largest stablecoin by market cap, at $26 billion, with Tether (USDT) ahead of it with a market cap of $83 billion. Circle has been bracing for the introduction of PayPal’s new stablecoin, PYUSD, which was launched on Aug. 7.

1/ Some major news from @circle and @coinbase on the future of $USDC in this joint blog post from @brian_armstrong and I (@jerallaire). https://t.co/uHuxeRJtiI
— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) August 21, 2023

The blog posts also announced that USDC will launch on six new blockchains in September and October. It did not specify the new blockchains, but USDC’s expansion onto Polkadot, Optimism, Near, Arbitrum and Cosmos was announced in September.

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