From Stablecoins to Infrastructure: Circle Charts the Rise of the Internet Financial System in 2026 Report

Circle Internet Group, Inc. (‘Circle’) (NYSE:CRCL), one of the world’s leading internet financial platform companies, released a flagship report that charts the formation of a new global economic architecture: “Beyond Stablecoins: The Rise of the Internet Financial System.” The 2026 report marks a pivotal milestone in the evolution of global finance, showcasing how public blockchains, regulated stablecoins, and programmable infrastructure are forming the foundation of a new, internet-native financial operating system.

This transformation mirrors earlier inflection points in technological advancement, from the rise of the web to the emergence of cloud, mobile, and AI platforms. It is beginning to reshape how financial systems operate, connect, and evolve on a global scale, with Circle’s full-stack platform serving a foundational role in this transition.

The report outlines Circle’s framework for internet-native financial infrastructure amid rising adoption across payments, capital markets and humanitarian use cases. This architecture includes three reinforcing pillars:

• Widely adopted regulated stablecoins USDC¹, EURC², and leading tokenized money market fund USYC³;
• Arc⁴, the enterprise-grade layer-1 blockchain built by Circle and engineered as the Economic Operating System (OS) for the internet, alongside robust developer tools and seamless interoperability infrastructure; and,
• Circle applications, including Circle Payments Network (CPN)⁵, an application coordination layer that orchestrates programmable, compliant and auditable payments.

Together, these pillars are designed to support open, programmable, and trusted value exchange from consumer wallets to institutional capital markets across geographies.

The report also features perspectives and commentary from leading banks, fintech platforms, and humanitarian organizations, offering insights into how this infrastructure is already being applied in real-world settings.

Together, these developments reflect a broader industry shift towards internet-native financial infrastructure. Circle’s infrastructure is now powering financial innovation across banks, fintechs, asset managers, aid organizations, and developers building the next generation of onchain financial applications. This shift is enabling new models for treasury operations, capital markets, cross-border settlement, and aid distribution as part of a broader evolution toward a financial system that is programmable, interoperable and always on.

Signals Shaping 2026: Infrastructure in Action

These milestones from 2025 point to the foundational infrastructure and use cases underscore growing adoption as internet-native systems continue to scale globally:

• USDC onchain volume reached $9.6 trillion in Q3 2025, up 680% year-over-year,⁶ as adoption accelerated across institutional finance, payments, and markets
• Nearly $217 billion in USDC redemptions processed in 2025⁷, reflecting Circle’s always-on liquidity and deep integration with the global banking system
• EURC became the leading euro stablecoin by market share and circulation (>50%)⁸, scaling rapidly following MiCA compliance
• Circle’s tokenized U.S. Treasury fund USYC reached $1 billion in circulation⁹, unlocking real-time access to yield-bearing instruments onchain
• Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) processed $31 billion in seamless USDC transfers in Q3¹⁰, up 740% year-on-year, with USDC now natively available on 30 blockchain networks
• Circle Payments Network (CPN) has grown rapidly since its launch in May 2025, reaching a $3.4 billion annualized transaction volume volume¹¹, while also opening new corridors across Brazil, Nigeria, and more
• Partnerships with Globally Systemically Important Banks (GSIBs) that are accelerating their exploration and use of stablecoins in custody, treasury, collateral, and settlement use cases
• Humanitarian partnerships enabled stablecoin-based cash assistance for displaced communities, with 40% cost savings and settlement time reduced from weeks to minutes
• Circle’s Arc blockchain testnet launched in October with 100+ participating companies spanning every major region and sector

From programmable capital markets to humanitarian aid distribution, these developments illustrate how Circle’s infrastructure is being used to solve complex challenges across the global economy, and how the internet financial system is beginning to take shape.

Jeremy Allaire, Chairman, Co-Founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Circle said, “This report captures the rise of an open, trusted, and programmable economic system for the internet where stablecoins like USDC and infrastructure like Arc support the next generation of commerce, capital markets, and social impact. The financial system is going online, and Circle is proud to be building the infrastructure to support that transition.”

Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy and Operations of Circle added, “2025 marked a clear inflection point for the global financial system. With a landmark stablecoin law taking effect in the United States and increasing regulatory clarity worldwide, a new era of compliant, programmable, and interoperable finance is coming into view. Circle is integrating this emerging infrastructure into the global financial system with openness, transparency, and regulation at heart.”

Catch more Fintech Insights : When DeFi Protocols Become Self-Evolving Organisms

[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]