Circle Gains 10% on Deal With Matera, USDC On World Chain

Shares in Circle Internet Group closed with a 10.7% gain on Wednesday after the stablecoin issuer partnered with Brazilian fintech Matera to support multicurrency bank payments, while its flagship stablecoin USDC also went live on OpenAI CEO Sam Altmanโ€™s World Chain.

World, formerly Worldcoin, said on Wednesday that around 2 million of its users held bridged USDC (USDC), a type of cryptocurrency that represents value ported across from another blockchain, which is โ€œnow upgraded to native USDC issued directly by Circle.โ€

Circleโ€™s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, which allows USDC to be quickly transferred across blockchain, also went live for Worldโ€™s 27 million users, who joined the network by scanning their eyes to prove theyโ€™re humans.

World said that users had been using USDC on the network for remittances and in Mini Apps, which provide tools for payments and e-commerce, among other things.

Circle and Matera link up for bank payments

Meanwhile, Brazilโ€™s Matera said on Wednesday that it partnered with Circle to allow the countryโ€™s banks to support multicurrency accounts.

Matera said it will use its real-time ledger, Digital Twin, to allow financial institutions to hold Circleโ€™s USDC directly and have Brazilian reals, US dollars and the stablecoin in the same environment โ€œwithout requiring institutions to build complex infrastructure from scratch.โ€

The solution will also connect to local payment rails, including the Central Bank of Brazilโ€™s real-time payment system Pix, and would allow USDC to be used in transactions and transfers.

โ€œInteroperability between stablecoins and local currency accounts is no longer a side project โ€” itโ€™s now at the heart of the financial system,โ€ Matera CEO Carlos Netto said. โ€œThis is a game-changer for banks and fintechs looking to operate globally with near-instant settlement and low costs.โ€

Circle shares jump over 10%

Shares in Circle (CRCL) closed trading on Wednesday up nearly 10.7% with news of the two deals, falling after-hours by 0.2% to just under $117, according to Yahoo Finance.

Circleโ€™s shares saw double-digit gains on Wednesday amid USDCโ€™s rollout on World. Source: Yahoo Finance

The stablecoin issuer went public in the US on June 5 in an upsized offering, and its stock price has since surged by nearly 280% since it kicked off trading at $31.

World made US debut in April

World was founded in 2019 by the San Francisco and Berlin-based Tools for Humanity but only launched to US users at the end of April, debuting in six cities: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco.

Related: US senators question Metaโ€™s stablecoin plans amid GENIUS Act debateย 

World Chain users who verify their identity via scanning their face and eyes with the companyโ€™s mirrored spherical device called an Orb are given the blockchainโ€™s crypto token, Worldcoin (WLD), as a reward.

World had skirted launching in the US due to regulatory concerns over offering the token, which it has now seemingly put aside under the crypto-friendly Trump administration.

The company has faced probes from regulators outside the US over privacy concerns, and some jurisdictions, including Spain and Portugal, had suspended Worldโ€™s activities in their countries over its data collection practices.

Read more: AI Eye: AI is good for employment says PWC โ€” Ignore the AI doomersย