Worldpay becomes first global merchant acquirer to offer direct USDC settlement

By Leandra Monteiro

Financial technology leader FIS® announces that its Worldpay from FIS business will be the first global merchant acquirer to offer merchants the ability to receive settlement directly in USD Coin (USDC), a fully reserved dollar digital currency.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a ‘stable’ reserve asset (such as the U.S. dollar) and can be redeemed one-to-one. USDC is one of the fastest-growing, regulated dollar digital currencies with more than $51 billion in circulation as of April 2022.1

By teaming up with Circle, a global financial technology firm that provides payments and financial infrastructure to businesses of all sizes, and is the sole issuer of USDC, Worldpay will enable both crypto-native and traditional businesses to build a fit-for-purpose settlement and treasury strategy that caters to their preferred currency for conducting business. Companies will no longer be constrained by payment service providers offering a fiat-only ecosystem and can instead leverage an innovative adoption of crypto payment rails to directly receive, hold, and transfer stablecoins in a fast and efficient manner. Crypto.com will act as a pilot customer for the USDC settlement proposition offered by Worldpay.

For traditional merchants and other corporates, the ability to receive a settlement in stablecoins can help drive the adoption of digital assets by enabling them to enter and experiment with cryptocurrency in a less volatile and lower-touch environment.

“Cryptocurrencies, for the most part, tend to be quite volatile and lack the ability to redeem at a predictable exchange rate in large quantities. That is why USDC is so popular among consumers who use crypto exchanges, and why it is so appealing to traditional merchants and other corporates,” said Nabil Manji, SVP, Head of Crypto and Web3 at Worldpay from FIS. “By making it easier and more efficient for crypto-native companies and other corporates to receive and manage stablecoins, this will further drive corporate innovation in payments and benefit the consumer ecosystem.”

“Integrating with Worldpay is a major step for Circle, USDC and the fintech sector as a whole,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle. “It is a glimpse into a future where value is exchanged frictionlessly, all possible because we’re building the next generation of financial solutions.”

Worldpay from FIS is an experienced Card-to-Crypto™ processor which provides services for 4 of the top 5 cryptocurrency exchanges2 and was recently honoured as the Crypto Payment Service Provider of the Year by City AM. Overall, FIS processes over $2 trillion in transactions annually across more than 100 countries in numerous payments types and currencies.