Circle Launches Payments Network To Compete With Ripple

Circle has rolled out its Circle Payments Network (CPN), designed to change the landscape for cross-border transactions. The new offering attempts to snag market share for Ripple Payments, pitting both heavyweights in a scramble for dominance.

Circle Launches CPN For Cross-border Payments

Stablecoin issuer Circle has announced a payments network for financial institutions offering real-time and cost-effective payments. According to the announcement on X, the Circle Payments Network will provide round-the-clock, low-cost, and near-instant settlement for financial institutions.

Per the statement, CPN will lean on Circle’s stablecoins USDC and EURC for settlement, sidestepping traditional bottlenecks. The stablecoin issuer says CPN will support invoice payments, remittances, treasury services, and contractor payouts.

“By orchestrating stablecoin payments, Circle Payments Network enables payment providers to unlock new markets and new business models faster than ever before,” said Circle CTO Nikhil Chandhok.

Circle is hitting the ground running, racking up a raft of design partners for CPN in the first wave. The list includes 20 design partners, including Flutterwave, CoinMENA, Coins.ph, WorldRemit, and Yellow Card amongst others.

Apart from near-instant settlement times, Circle is offering partner financial institutions with easy onboarding via a single tech stack. Circle has tapped Deutsche Bank, Santander, Standard Chartered, and Societe Generale as advisors in the CPN project.

“We are not just building stablecoins,” said the stablecoin issuer. “We are building a modern infrastructure for global payments.”

The passage of the STABLE Act is providing regulatory direction for stablecoin issuers like Circle as they seek to expand the scope of their offerings.

CPN Will Compete With Ripple Payments

Circle’s launch of CPN will jostle with Ripple Payments for market share in the coming months. Ripple currently enjoys a first-mover advantage in the ecosystem following the launch of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) offering.

Running on the XRP Ledger, Ripple Payments allows banks to process international transactions at a lower cost than traditional alternatives. However, CPN is poised to be a direct competitor to Ripple Payments given its slew of initial partnerships.

Ripple has a trove of partnerships under its belt, but an integration with SWIFT is tipped to be the icing on the cake for adoption metrics and XRP price. Both Ripple and XRP are mulling over the prospects of an IPO

Circle and Ripple are currently jostling for positions following the intention of the US to lean on stablecoins to preserve the dollar’s dominance. Circle argues that USDC is the largest regulated stablecoin with a market capitalization of $60.91 billion. On the flipside, Ripple says its RLUSD is the fastest-growing US dollar-denominated stablecoin in the ecosystem, recording a 100% spike in trading volumes on the tailwind of glowing fundamentals.