TL;DR:
- Circle partnered with technology firm ACI Worldwide to integrate settlements using the USDC stablecoin into existing banking infrastructure in Latin America.
- The initial pilot project is being implemented in Colombia through the Bre-B interoperable instant payment system and the ACI Connetic cloud platform.
- The initiative aims to demonstrate the coexistence of digital and traditional rails without disrupting current treasury processes and banking governance.
In the middle of the trading day on Tuesday, October 27, Circle announced that it is joining forces with ACI Worldwide to deploy a USDC settlement pilot program aimed at the banking sector in Colombia.
The agreement links the technical infrastructure of the digital token with ACI Connetic, the cloud-based payment orchestration platform developed by ACI Worldwide. According to the official report, the core purpose is to demonstrate to financial institutions how stablecoin rails can operate in parallel with traditional clearing and settlement networks, rather than attempting to replace them.
Technical integration with the Bre-B instant payment network
They will initially target the Colombian market, where ACI Worldwide previously developed the core infrastructure of Bre-B, the national interoperable account-to-account instant payment network managed under the supervision of the Banco de la República. The pilot directly evaluates how a backed digital dollar can be incorporated into this real-time environment to build what both entities refer to as a multi-rail ecosystem.
According to statements by Craig Ramsey, global head of account-to-account payments at ACI Worldwide, the banking debate surrounding stablecoins has shifted from technical speculation toward operational viability. Ramsey noted that financial institutions are currently seeking solutions to integrate regulated digital assets into their existing treasury, compliance, and daily settlement workflows.
For his part, Circle’s Chief Business Officer, Kash Razzaghi, stated that institutions across the region are actively exploring how stablecoins can complement the evolution of institutional payments using technical infrastructures that are already proven and in production.
Context of institutional adoption and remittances in Latin America
The initiative in Colombian territory is part of a broader strategy by Circle to consolidate its presence in emerging markets. Previously, the issuing company established a direct footprint in Latin America following the technical integration of USDC into Mercado Pago’s regional platform, facilitating access to dollarized balances in Argentina and other Southern Cone markets.
Colombia represents a strategic testing ground due to the steady flow of cross-border transfers and local users’ familiarity with US dollar-pegged instruments amid exchange-rate volatility. Operational data from the project indicates that the technical architecture deployed on ACI Connetic is agnostic to the underlying technology. Although the trial phase relies exclusively on USDC, the technology platform was designed to support other payment networks and digital asset providers as the country’s regulatory framework evolves.
The progress of the pilot in Colombia marks the formal start of technical testing between traditional banking rails and Circle’s digital standard, with operational evaluation phases scheduled to report interbank settlement results over the upcoming quarters of implementation.
