Circle Agrees to Acquire Singapore Payments Firm Tazapay

Circle Internet Group, Inc. (CRCL ) said on September 8, 2026, that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-headquartered B2B cross-border payments infrastructure company focused on serving payment service providers and financial institutions. Circle said in an announcement that the transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals, including approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Tazapay brings more than $25 billion of annualized payment volume, more than 60 banking and fintech partners, and local payout rails covering over 100 markets, according to Circle. Approximately 60% of Tazapay’s transaction volume already includes stablecoins, the company said. Circle, the issuer of USDC, said the acquisition will accelerate its mission to build the infrastructure layer for global digital finance.

“Stablecoin settlement is becoming core infrastructure in the global economy and combining USDC with Tazapay’s world-class banking relationships, local payout rails, and institutional customer base will accelerate worldwide USDC adoption,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Circle. Allaire said Tazapay has been a design partner for Circle Payments Network since 2025.

Irfan Ganchi, senior vice president of payments at Circle, said Tazapay brings deep payment infrastructure across APAC and emerging markets, where Circle sees increasing demand for USDC-denominated transactions. He said the acquisition will increase Circle’s capability to originate and terminate payments globally, near-instant and 24/7, and that, combined with Circle’s existing network, Tazapay extends coverage to move money anywhere stablecoin payments are being adopted globally.

“We built Tazapay to make payments faster, remove friction, and streamline dependency on banking rails that don’t operate at the speed of global commerce,” said Rahul Shinghal, co-founder and CEO of Tazapay. “Circle has the dollar infrastructure in USDC and the regulatory standing to take what we’ve built further than we could alone.”

Circle said Tazapay customers can expect no disruption to their service, APIs, pricing, or support. In a separate statement, Tazapay said customer contracts will continue on existing terms and that virtual accounts, payout routes, and settlement arrangements will continue as they are. The company said it will operate under the same brand, product, and roadmap, with the same team and the same licences, and that customers will hear directly from Tazapay before anything changes in the future.

An Existing Partnership

The agreement extends a relationship between the two companies that predates the acquisition. Circle announced Circle Payments Network on April 21, 2025, describing a network to connect banks, neo-banks, payment service providers, virtual asset service providers, and digital wallets and to enable real-time settlement of cross-border payments using regulated stablecoins. Tazapay was among the design partners Circle named at launch. The 2025 announcement said Banco Santander, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, and Standard Chartered Bank contributed expertise to the network’s design, and that participants must meet eligibility standards covering licensing, AML/CFT compliance, financial risk management, and cybersecurity protocols.

In March 2026, Circle Ventures led an extension of Tazapay’s Series B round. Tazapay’s March 26, 2026 announcement said the extension brought total Series B funding to $36 million, with CMT Digital and Coinbase Ventures joining as new investors and Peak XV Partners, GMO Venture Partners, and January Capital participating. Tazapay said the capital would be deployed toward licensing expansion, go-to-market acceleration across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Americas, and the development of agentic payment infrastructure supporting autonomous, AI-driven payment flows on licensed infrastructure. The company described its offering at the time as regulated last-mile infrastructure using digital settlement technology for cross-border payments across emerging markets. In its statement on the acquisition, Tazapay said Circle had been a partner from the beginning of its stablecoin work before leading the Series B extension.

At the time of the extension, Tazapay said it served more than 1,000 enterprises and fintechs across 30 countries, with local collections and payouts in more than 70 markets. The company said it held licences and registrations in Singapore, Canada, Australia, and the United States, with active applications in the UAE, the EU, and Hong Kong.

Licensing History

Tazapay holds a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In an August 2, 2023 announcement of the licence, the company said it allows Tazapay to extend account issuance, merchant acquisition, cross-border and domestic money transfers, and e-money issuance services to its client base. The same announcement said Tazapay had closed Series A funding of $16.9 million.

Both companies said the transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals, including approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Tazapay said it will continue to operate as it does today until the transaction closes and afterward.