Having a flexible, secure, and fast fiat-to-crypto on- and off-ramp can make a world of difference for startups operating in the crypto industry. However, setting up the right payments infrastructure to make that happen has been a challenge for crypto companies since day one.
Fortunately, Circle offers a full-stack payments infrastructure that enables crypto startups to operate fiat-to-crypto on- and off-ramps for their treasury operations and to make and accept payment, all powered by USDC.
Circle and USDC: A Bridge Between Fiat and Crypto
Circle, which launched USD Coin (USDC) in collaboration with Coinbase back in 2018, has built a range of USDC-powered products to provide a fiat on and off-ramp infrastructure for crypto-native businesses.
USDC is currently the fastest-growing dollar digital currency, with a market cap of over $27 billion as of August 15, 2021. Traditional and crypto-oriented businesses choose to transact using USDC because of its price stability, speed, low costs, and regulatory compliance. The stablecoin also benefits from the security of underlying blockchains, as it is a multichain digital currency.
By using USDC, crypto startups can facilitate the conversion of fiat to crypto and vice versa to expand their product or service offerings across the globe.
Thanks to USDC, crypto businesses can get to market much faster and reach clients in up to 80 countries. Circle can handle processing, storing, and USDC conversions while letting crypto businesses focus on their UX.
In some jurisdictions, fiat-to-crypto operations are already heavily regulated. In the US, Circle is regulated by FinCEN, a bureau of the US Department of Treasury, as a Money Services Business. The company is also licensed as a money transmitter in 46 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
By using USDC backed by powerful Circle APIs, crypto businesses can benefit from efficient fiat on- and off-ramp infrastructure.
Circle Products to Power Your Startup
Besides maintaining USDC, Circle provides four main products that can facilitate various operations involving fiat and crypto operations:
Circle Account
The Circle Account is a full-stack solution that mimics business banking functionality but is more advanced and flexible thanks to USDC. Businesses use the Circle Account to move value between USDC on blockchains and USD in traditional bank accounts, and to leverage the rest of the products like payments and payouts.
With a Circle Account, your crypto startup can easily store funds, send and receive payments and carry out treasury operations.
Crypto businesses can use Circle Account as a fiat on and off-ramp infrastructure to better integrate fiat operations into blockchain applications. All operations conducted through the account are powered by USDC, the stable digital currency pegged to the US dollar.
The Circle Account acts as a front door for a suite of APIs that facilitate internet commerce on blockchain.
Payments
Circle Payments enables crypto businesses with a global client base to accept payments in USDC with no coding required. Besides paying in crypto, customers can pay or deposit fiat via credit/debit card, ACH, and wire transfers. All transactions are settled almost instantly as USDC, thus benefiting from the security of the underlying blockchain, whether that’s Ethereum, Algorand, Solana, Stellar, or TRON.
All payments are settled directly in the Circle Account – businesses don’t need a bank account for these operations.
The payment coming from USDC-compatible cryptocurrency wallets typically settle within minutes with no chargeback risk and no volatility.
Crypto businesses relying on Circle’s payments solution can integrate fraud management tools and even earn yield on idle capital.
Payouts
Circle Payouts allow crypto businesses to pay their staff, suppliers, or clients from their accumulated USDC balances. The payouts can be conducted in USDC or using traditional banking rails, allowing your crypto business to benefit from faster, lower-cost payouts that can be automated.
Whether you fund your payouts directly from your Circle Account or using payments accepted with Circle, you can automate your payout workflows or make mass global payouts.
You can easily access your payouts through an intuitive dashboard that displays the history and analysis of transactions.
Digital Accounts
With Circle’s Digital Accounts, crypto startups can manage customer assets much easier and perform multiple tasks, such as storing clients’ balances, perform accounting, and manage funds routing.
Your business can move funds quickly thanks to Circle’s next-generation technology stack for money. These digital accounts represent a set of APIs and tools for building and managing a network of scalable accounts and sub-accounts. This will allow your business to customize digital dollar storage based on your specific needs.
For example, you can send funds from one account to multiple recipients, split funds between multiple users or vendors, or apply escrow-like options.
Go Fiat-to-Crypto With Ease
USDC is becoming increasingly popular among crypto businesses because it is part of a digital ecosystem that provides new opportunities for business growth and efficiency. By using a Circle Account and Circle API products, you can take your startup to another level.
Learn more about how you can integrate Circle-powered USDC on and off-ramps in your crypto products.
