Circle and ACI launch USDC settlement pilot in Colombia

Circle and payments firm ACI Worldwide announced on October 27 a pilot for USDC stablecoin settlement in Colombia. It plugs into Bre-B, the country's instant payments network, through ACI's Connetic orchestration platform.

Details

The partners say USDC is meant to operate alongside existing payment infrastructure rather than replace it: banks and payment providers could settle in USDC while keeping the treasury and governance processes they already run, according to Decrypt and Securities.io.

ACI's global head of account-to-account payments, Craig Ramsey, said: "The conversation around stablecoins is moving from possibility to practicality." Circle chief commercial officer Kash Razzaghi described it as a practical path for institutions to explore how USDC fits into established payment environments.

Bre-B is operated by Colombia's central bank, Banco de la República, on ACI technology; Securities.io reports it processed over 500 million transactions in its first five months (as of March 2026). The announcements do not name participating banks or a pilot timeline.

What it means for the market

For Circle it is another Latin American step after USDC's earlier presence in Argentina's Mercado Pago. The pilot is a test of the model, but it shows payments firms' interest in stablecoin settlement inside bank infrastructure. For the wider market see the daily brief; coin page: USDC.