Standard Chartered opens USDC mint and redeem access for institutions

Standard Chartered has partnered with Circle to give eligible institutional clients access to USDC minting and redemption, extending the bank’s digital-asset services into stablecoin issuance and conversion. The companies said the service will first be available through Standard Chartered’s Dubai operations, with plans to add other markets.

The bank and Circle said the arrangement makes Standard Chartered the first globally systemically important bank licensed to provide this type of access to institutional clients. For banks, asset managers and large corporates assessing blockchain-based settlement, the move places a regulated banking platform between fiat accounts and public blockchain infrastructure.

USDC is Circle’s stablecoin. Minting gives clients access to newly issued tokens, while redemption allows holders to convert tokens back through the connected financial infrastructure. In the model described by the companies, Standard Chartered links fiat banking services, digital asset infrastructure and public blockchain networks in a single bank-led offering.

The partners said the service is designed to help clients transfer value between traditional financial systems and digital asset networks with greater speed and visibility. They identified on-chain settlement, treasury activity and liquidity management as initial institutional uses, and said the infrastructure could also support payment-related applications in the future.

Bank-led access to stablecoin infrastructure

The launch reflects a broader push by large financial institutions to offer digital-asset services within established controls. Stablecoins are used to represent value on blockchain networks, and institutional users often need links between tokenised balances and bank accounts to use them in settlement, treasury or payments processes.

Standard Chartered said the service is initially limited to eligible clients. The companies did not disclose client names, transaction volumes, fees or a timetable for expansion beyond Dubai.

Roberto Hoornweg, chief executive of corporate and investment banking at Standard Chartered, said digital assets are becoming a more important part of global financial infrastructure and that institutional clients want governance standards comparable with those in traditional markets.

“With this launch, we are extending those standards into a rapidly evolving segment of the financial system,” Hoornweg said.

Kash Razzaghi, chief commercial officer at Circle, said integrating Circle’s regulated stablecoin infrastructure into Standard Chartered’s global banking platform would help institutions use USDC for payments, settlement and treasury operations while maintaining expected compliance, governance and risk management standards.

The companies positioned the partnership as a bridge between conventional banking and blockchain-based financial activity. Its near-term scope is institutional rather than retail, and its first market is Dubai, where Standard Chartered will provide the access through its local operations before any wider rollout.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.