ACI and Circle Partnership Integrates USDC Settlement into Latin American Payments
Key Facts
ACI Worldwide and Circle announced a collaboration to integrate USDC settlement into existing payments infrastructure in Latin America, according to a statement issued by the companies and distributed by Business Wire. The project relies on Connetic, ACI’s cloud-based payments platform, to show how stablecoin settlement can be incorporated into existing payment systems. The statement describes Circle as the issuer of USDC through its regulated entities. The announcement did not name specific countries, set an implementation date or specify settlement terms. So far, the announcement focuses on integrating the technology infrastructure, with no details on the launch’s scope or expected financial impact for the companies.
ACI positions the platform as part of an effort to connect traditional, instant and digital payment rails in a single infrastructure. In April 2026, the company said Connetic supports stablecoin and tokenized deposit capabilities alongside those rails. In its second-quarter disclosure, it said the platform supports stablecoin flows when fiat money moves to and from issuers, and when stablecoins are minted or burned. This indicates that the platform’s role is tied to stages in the movement of funds between traditional currency and digital assets, according to the company’s description. ACI’s Craig Ramsey also said, "Each new network adds controls, compliance and technical burden"; the company said these are operational challenges institutions face as payment rails multiply.
The partnership comes as Circle expands its network of institutional services tied to the stablecoin. The company launched Circle Payments Network in May 2025 to facilitate instant payment settlement, starting with cross-border payments, using regulated stablecoins such as USDC and EURC. According to its second-quarter 2026 results, the network’s annualized transaction volume was $14.7 billion, calculated from activity over the 30 days through quarter-end, up 76% quarter over quarter. The network had 175 financial institutions, the company said. In April 2026, Circle launched a managed service that gives banks and payment service providers access to stablecoin settlement without directly managing digital assets.
USDC’s use is also expanding alongside these institutional initiatives. The value of the stablecoin in circulation reached $73.3 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2026, up 19% year over year, according to Circle. Its onchain transaction volume rose 151% year over year in the same quarter to $14.8 trillion. The company also said financial institutions are using the coin to expand their activities, citing BlackRock, BNY and Standard Chartered. The managed payments service enables cross-border transaction settlement using USDC, while reducing foreign-exchange costs and settlement friction, according to the company’s description of the service.
Circle previously enabled local bank transfers through Brazil’s PIX system and Mexico’s SPEI system to access USDC from the real and peso. In September 2024, the company said using these local systems did not require funds to first be converted into dollars through an international transfer. It added that this could cut the time to access the currency from days to minutes. Earlier EL7 stories have reported the company’s partnerships with Nium, Volante and Grupo BIND to expand the currency’s use in payments or make it available to institutions. This places the ACI collaboration among a series of steps to expand settlement channels and institutional access, while the scope of the new initiative in Latin America remains unspecified in the announcement.
ACI said it activated Connetic across eight U.S. payment networks and signed two U.S. customers for the platform during the second quarter of 2026. In the same period, revenue was $430 million, up 7% year over year, while net income reached $32 million, compared with $12 million in the second quarter of 2025. The company’s shares closed at $55.68 on October 26, 2026, according to EL7 data. ACI is scheduled to report third-quarter results on November 5, 2026, followed by an investor call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. The partnership statement did not provide a revenue estimate or an implementation timeline.