Circle and MHC Digital Group have entered a partnership to offer stablecoin-based trading services to Australian and APAC-based institutions. Circle believes USDC access in the region could also offer tremendous benefits to the retail segment.
Stablecoin issuing giant Circle and MHC Digital Group have announced a collaborative venture to provide easy USDC access to institutional clients in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. MHC Digital will integrate USDC into traditional finance use cases to reduce the massive fees associated with transactions and settlements and increase efficiency. With that, it seeks to offer over-the-counter (OTC) trading services to institutions, high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), and cryptocurrency businesses.
MHC Digital founder and executive chairman Mark Carnegie spoke to the Australian Financial Review about the new Circle-powered venture, explaining how he wants to reduce the fees associated with institutional international settlements. “I’m hoping we can show there are hundreds of millions of dollars of forex [foreign exchange] trading fees, where super funds are getting their faces ripped off by Macquarie Bank and the other incumbent banks.”
According to Carnegie, banks make $170 billion from Australian investors and companies relying on the Swift payments network. Switching to stablecoin settlements over the blockchain will reduce costs to a fraction of that. Partnering with super funds, Carnegie mentioned, would help them “take rapacious trading fees out of the system.”
About the Circle integration to make this possible, he said, “Circle is the obvious candidate to be the long-term winner in the regulated stablecoin space, and we are very excited to work together to expand access to USDC in Australia and beyond.”
Circle’s chief business officer Kash Razzaghi believes USDC’s entry into the APAC market will do more than service institutions, referring to how the region’s retail base will benefit from it as well. “With its young, mobile-first and digital wallet ready population, the Asia Pacific region is ahead of the curve when it comes to digital asset adoption.”
Regarding how the partnership will fare in the face of Australian regulations (or yet-to-be-introduced crypto regulations), Carnegie explained, “MHC Digital Group has consistently stayed ahead of the curve by securing all available local licenses for our operations,” adding, “This positions us strongly to capitalise on opportunities in Australia as soon as the regulatory frameworks are established.”
Circle is Making Massive Moves Globally, Increasing USDC Access to More Users
This news is just one aspect of Circle’s global expansion plans. Back home in the US, it plans on moving headquarters to Wall Street. Beyond that, it took a massive step in the Latin American markets, integrating its infrastructure with Mexican and Brazilian national payment systems to enable easy access to users in the countries.
