Circle and ACI pilot USDC settlement on Colombia's Bre-B network
Circle and ACI Worldwide pilot USDC settlement on Colombia's Bre-B instant payments system, letting banks use stablecoins inside existing payment operations.
FINTECHSTABLECOINS & CBDCNEWS
Hana Kimura
10/29/20261 min read
Circle and payments software firm ACI Worldwide have launched a pilot to settle payments in USDC alongside Colombia's Bre-B instant payments network, the companies announced on Tuesday, Oct. 27, in a bid to show Latin American banks how stablecoins can run inside their current systems.
ACI built the central infrastructure behind Bre-B, Colombia's interoperable network for real-time account-to-account payments. The pilot pairs Circle's USDC infrastructure with ACI Connetic, ACI's cloud-native payments orchestration platform, which is meant to tie stablecoin settlement into banks' existing processes instead of requiring a separate system, according to Decrypt and The Paypers.
The companies present stablecoin settlement as an additional rail rather than a replacement. ACI says Connetic is technology-agnostic: the pilot uses USDC, but the platform is designed to support other payment networks and digital-asset providers over time.
From possibility to practice
Craig Ramsey, ACI's global head of account-to-account payments, said the industry discussion about stablecoins is shifting from what is possible to what is practical. Circle chief commercial officer Kash Razzaghi said institutions across Latin America want to understand how stablecoins can support payments and settlement within the infrastructure they already use.
Colombia is a logical first market. Decrypt points to the country's large inbound remittance flows and a population used to holding dollars as a hedge. Circle has previously gained ground in the region through Mercado Pago, which added USDC in Argentina, and Visa also lists Colombia among the markets for its stablecoin platform.
The companies did not disclose transaction volumes, participating banks or a timeline for moving beyond the pilot. Colombia is the first focus market, with Latin America as the initial regional target.
Source: Decrypt, The Paypers