StanChart Becomes First G-SIB to Mint USDC—BNY Beat It by Three Days 🏦

Standard Chartered has become the first Global Systemically Important Bank to offer institutional clients direct access to USDC minting and redemption, through a partnership with issuer Circle announced on July 2. Eligible clients can convert dollars to USDC and back inside their existing banking relationship, with no separate Circle accounts required, under a model that embeds stablecoin access within the bank's existing risk, compliance and governance frameworks. Standard Chartered said the capability is initially rolling out through its Dubai International Financial Centre operations, with expansion to additional markets contingent on regulatory approvals and client demand. The service supports on-chain settlement, treasury operations and liquidity management, with payment-related use cases planned for a later phase.

"By embedding USDC access directly within Standard Chartered's institutional offering, Standard Chartered will bring together banking, custody, and digital asset services within one integrated offering," the bank said in its announcement. Roberto Hoornweg, CEO of corporate and investment banking at Standard Chartered, framed the move as a response to growing institutional appetite for regulated infrastructure. "Ultimately, this is about enabling broader institutional participation in digital asset markets through the frameworks, controls and regulatory oversight that have long supported confidence in global financial markets," he said. Circle Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi added, "By integrating Circle's regulated stablecoin infrastructure into Standard Chartered's global banking platform, we are helping institutions access new opportunities to use USDC across payments, settlement and treasury operations while maintaining the compliance, governance, and risk management standards they expect."

Standard Chartered is not the first major bank to open USDC rails for institutions. On June 29, BNY enabled clients to mint, redeem and hold USDC through its Digital Asset Custody platform. BNY, which oversees $59.3 trillion in assets under custody or administration and custodies USDC's reserves, said it plans to add further stablecoin issuers over time. The Standard Chartered relationship with Circle also runs deeper than a single product launch: the bank has helped design the Circle Payments Network since April 2025 alongside Santander, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale, and this week initiated coverage of the DeFi lending protocol Morpho.

The launch lands as USDC commands a $73.2 billion market cap, according to DefiLlama, with supply holding in a $70 billion to $80 billion range in recent months even as new entrants emerge. USD-pegged stablecoin supply has nearly doubled over the past 24 months, rising from about $160 billion to roughly $300 billion by July 2026, per Artemis data, with USDT still leading the market and USDC the second-largest stablecoin. Circle's stock, listed as $CRCL, rose more than 9% on the day of the announcement to $67.75, per Yahoo Finance, though shares remain down about 33% over the last month after Circle ally Coinbase joined more than 140 firms backing a rival, upcoming stablecoin called Open USD ($OUSD). Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said on Wednesday, "With OUSD, we work closely with many of the founding members, and we expect that those same members will remain large USDC partners and customers."