Circle Expands Institutional USDC Push With Volante Technologies
Circle Internet Group CRCL is expanding its push into institutional stablecoin payments through a strategic collaboration with Volante Technologies. The partnership will bring USDC payment and settlement workflows to Volante’s AI-powered Payments Platform, enabling financial institutions to evaluate stablecoin payments and settlement without building a separate digital-asset stack.
Volante clients will be able to test workflows including USDC minting and redemption, beneficiary wallet registration, funding, notifications and wallet-to-wallet payment execution within the same infrastructure they already use for traditional payments. The potential reach is significant, as Volante’s customers include four of the top five global corporate banks and seven of the top 10 U.S. banks.
The collaboration is intended to position stablecoins as an additional payment rail rather than requiring banks to operate a separate digital-asset system. This could reduce the operational barriers to testing USDC while allowing institutions to retain their existing governance frameworks, controls and on- and off-ramp requirements. Volante said the companies expect to explore further collaboration involving Circle Mint, potential joint go-to-market opportunities and USDC via Volante.
For Circle, the partnership adds another route to expand USDC’s use in mainstream financial infrastructure. That effort comes as USDC network activity continues to expand. USDC in circulation reached $73.3 billion at the end of second-quarter 2026, up 19% year over year, while quarterly on-chain transaction volume surged 151% to $14.8 trillion.
Stablecoin-based payments are also gaining traction across Circle’s broader payments network. Circle Payments Network reached $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume at the end of the second quarter, up 76% sequentially, while the number of enrolled financial institutions increased 29% to 175. The company has also partnered with firms such as Nium to connect USDC settlement with local-currency payouts across more than 190 countries.
Circle’s infrastructure is increasingly geared toward faster institutional settlement. Its USDC network spans 35 blockchain networks and offers 756 Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol routes. In the second quarter of 2026, daily on-chain transaction volume reached $163 billion, up 151% year over year, while daily minting and redemptions reached $1.9 billion, up 105%.
Conclusion
The Volante deal could help Circle move USDC further into the payment systems banks already use. By combining Volante’s established banking infrastructure with Circle’s stablecoin network, the collaboration creates a practical path for financial institutions to evaluate stablecoin-based payments and settlement while potentially expanding their use over time.
Over the past three months, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have rallied 36.7% compared with the industry's growth of 0.4%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Financial-Miscellaneous Services sector are Bread Financial BFH and Axos Financial AX, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BFH’s 2026 earnings per share (EPS) has moved 2 cents northward to $12.12 over the past month.
The consensus estimate for AX’s fiscal 2027 EPS has moved up 5 cents to $9.64 over the past two months.
Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge Gains
Quantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.
While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.
Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power.
Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. Now, he has keyed in on what could be "the next big thing" in quantum computing supremacy. Today, you have a rare chance to position your portfolio at the forefront of this opportunity.
See Top Quantum Stocks Now >>Circle Internet Group, Inc. (CRCL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
AXOS FINANCIAL, INC (AX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (BFH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
