(22 April 2025 – Global) Circle Payments Network (CPN), is collaborating with major global banks — including Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, and Santander — to develop a new international payment network aimed at transforming cross-border transactions.
The CPN is designed to connect a wide ecosystem of financial institutions — from traditional banks and neo-banks to payment service providers, digital wallets, and virtual asset service providers. It will offer real-time settlement of cross-border payments using regulated stablecoins.
Despite efforts to improve the space, the World Bank estimates that cross-border payments still cost over 6 percent on average and can take longer than a business day to settle. This is largely due to layers of intermediaries, compliance checks, and fragmented cut-off times across various jurisdictions.
Powered by smart contracts, modular APIs, and stablecoins such as USDC and EURC, the CPN is being built for 24/7 global interoperability. The network is designed to integrate with domestic real-time payment systems, ensuring continuous value movement across borders.
Participation in the network requires adherence to a strict governance framework — including licensing, AML/CFT compliance, financial risk protocols, and cybersecurity standards. The platform’s broad use cases include remittances, supplier payments, capital markets settlements, payroll, and onchain treasury operations.
“Standard Chartered is continuously looking for opportunities to make cross-border payments more efficient, secure, and compliant to various regulatory requirements, globally,” said Michael Spiegel, Global Head of Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered Bank. “Circle’s compliance-first approach to building products like CPN is a game changer for how money moves across borders, and we are pleased to build on our partnership and offer them our global expertise to support the success of CPN.”
In addition to its banking partners, Circle is also integrating with digital asset infrastructure providers like Fireblocks to enable broader access for institutional customers.
“Circle Payments Network is a foundational layer for the always-on economy — enabling trusted institutions to move value across borders, instantly,” said Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Circle. “With programmable infrastructure at its core, CPN makes it possible to embed value transfer into modern financial applications in ways that weren’t feasible before.”
The Circle Payments Network is set to roll out in a limited release this May, positioning itself as a serious competitor to legacy messaging networks like SWIFT.