Standard Chartered · Circle · CoinDesk
Banks have stopped asking if stablecoins belong in finance, now they're considering how
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When Standard Chartered (STAN) said it would offer institutional clients direct access to minting and redeeming Circle Internet's (CRCL) USDC this week, it wasn't simply adding another digital asset service.
Key facts
- When Standard Chartered (STAN) said it would offer institutional clients direct access to minting and redeeming Circle Internet's (CRCL) USDC this week, it wasn't simply adding another digital asset
- The discussion intensified this week after Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responded to the introduction of OpenUSD, a rival stablecoin backed by companies including Coinbase (COIN), payments company
- Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic, a co-founder and partner at Steakhouse Financial, which advises institutions on decentralized finance, agrees that the surrounding ecosystem is key
- Standard Chartered’s announcement came days after BNY, the world's largest custody bank, expanded its support for USDC by allowing institutional clients to custody, mint and redeem the stablecoin
Summary
Global banks including Standard Chartered and BNY are increasingly integrating Circle’s USDC into their infrastructure, signaling that the debate has shifted from whether to use stablecoins to how to use them. Industry executives say the real value lies in the networks and liquidity around stablecoins rather than the tokens themselves, as institutions seek established payment, treasury and settlement infrastructure. European lenders are pushing to develop euro-denominated stablecoins to prevent settlement activity from defaulting to dollar-backed tokens and to keep tokenized finance anchored in their home currency. Rather, it was joining a growing list of global financial institutions building product offerings around stablecoins, the fiat-pegged tokens that were once retail investors' refuge from crypto-market volatility and are increasingly becoming part of the plumbing of financial institutions worldwide.