Transaction Overview
On September 8, 2026, Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-headquartered B2B cross-border payments infrastructure company, for $400M payable entirely in Circle Class A common stock. The transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It is Circle’s largest acquisition since Poloniex in 2018 and its first of scale since its June 2025 IPO.
Target: Tazapay
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Singapore, Tazapay is a B2B cross-border payments infrastructure provider serving payment providers, marketplaces, fintechs, and financial institutions. The company was co-founded by CEO Rahul Shinghal, a former Stripe and PayPal executive, with Saroj Mishra and Arul Kumaravel.
Tazapay’s platform comprises: 1) global collection accounts in 35+ currencies and a card and local payment method gateway for receiving payments from buyers in 170+ countries; 2) payouts to bank accounts and wallets over local rails covering 100+ markets; and 3) stablecoin settlement in USDC and USDT alongside fiat. Tazapay has been a Circle Payments Network (CPN) design partner since 2025 and live on the network since its May 2025 mainnet launch.
As of July 31, 2026, Tazapay processed more than $25B in annualized payment volume, up from roughly $10B in August 2025, with approximately 60% of that volume already settled in stablecoins. It serves 1,000+ customers in 30 countries through 60+ banking and fintech partners. Tazapay does not disclose financials; Tech in Asia and CB Insights report FY2025 revenue of approximately $12.4M, roughly double FY2024. The company says revenue has doubled in each of the last three years and that it had reached operational breakeven by August 2025.
Tazapay is licensed or registered in Singapore (MAS Major Payment Institution, 2023), Canada (FINTRAC), the U.S. (FinCEN and state money transmitter licenses), Australia (AUSTRAC), and Hong Kong (Money Service Operator, 2026).
According to PitchBook, Tazapay has raised approximately $60M. Its $16.9M Series A (February 2023) was led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia, now Peak XV Partners. Its $36M Series B was raised in two tranches, an August 2025 round led by Peak XV that brought in Ripple and Circle Ventures and a March 2026 extension led by Circle Ventures with Coinbase Ventures and CMT Digital (Press); PitchBook records the full $36M round, dated March 2026, at a $122M post-money valuation.
Competitors include BVNK (Mastercard), Bridge (Stripe), Rail (Ripple), Reap (Payward), Conduit, and Zero Hash in stablecoin settlement, and Nium, Airwallex, and Thunes in fiat cross-border payments.
Buyer: Circle
Founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville and headquartered in New York, Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) issues USDC, the second-largest dollar stablecoin. Circle listed on the NYSE in June 2025 at $31 per share and, as of September 8, 2026, had a market capitalization of approximately $24.4B, roughly 7.8x EV / trailing revenue.
USDC in circulation stood at $73.3B as of June 30, 2026 (+19% YoY), approximately 27% of the stablecoin market by Circle’s measure, against roughly $185B for Tether’s USDT. Circle holds an OCC national trust bank charter and an MPI license from MAS.
Most relevant to this transaction, CPN, launched in May 2025, connects financial institutions for real-time cross-border settlement in USDC and EURC (Press). As of June 30, 2026, 175 financial institutions were enrolled (+29% QoQ) across 58+ countries, with annualized transaction volume of $14.7B (+76% QoQ), rising to $23B by July 31. Circle plans to begin monetizing CPN in the second half of 2026.
For fiscal year 2025, Circle reported total revenue and reserve income of $2.75B (+64% YoY), 96% of it reserve income, and adjusted EBITDA of $582M. In Q2 2026, revenue grew 7% YoY to $701M as reserve income growth slowed to 5% on lower interest rates while other revenue grew 41% to $34M.
Circle has been a steady acquirer, typically paying in stock, including Poloniex (reported $400M, 2018, later spun out), Coinbase’s stake in the Centre Consortium ($209.9M in stock, 2023), and Hashnote (approximately $100M per Circle’s S-1, 2025, M&A Alert).
Transaction Parameters
Circle will acquire all shares of Tazapay not already held by Circle for $400M, paid entirely in Circle Class A common stock. The share count will be set by Circle’s 20-day volume-weighted average price before closing; at the September 8 close of $96.18, the consideration equates to approximately 4.2M shares, or about 1.6% of shares outstanding. Eight percent of the shares will be held back for indemnification (5% released at 6, 12, and 18 months and 3% over 12 to 48 months), and Circle will grant $25M of RSUs to Tazapay employees. Closing is conditioned on regulatory approvals, including from MAS, and retention of at least 75% of identified employees. The agreement has a nine-month outside date, extendable to 15 months, and no termination fee.
Against FY2025 revenue of approximately $12.4M (Tech in Asia and CB Insights, from Singapore filings; PitchBook carries $20.0M), the price implies roughly 20x to 32x revenue for a fiscal year that ended well before the current run-rate. On volume, the price equals approximately 1.6% of annualized payment volume, and it is roughly 3.3x the $122M post-money valuation PitchBook records for the $36M Series B, dated March 2026. Since the $400M excludes Circle Ventures’ stake, all three figures modestly understate whole-company value.
Previous comparable transactions include: Mastercard | BVNK (up to $1.8B, ~$30B annualized volume, M&A Alert), Stripe | Bridge ($1.1B, M&A Alert), Payward | Reap (up to $600M, M&A Alert), Ripple | Rail ($200M, M&A Alert), and MoonPay | Iron (reported $100M+, M&A Alert).
Strategic Rationale
Circle is buying the last mile. CPN moves USDC between institutions in seconds, but every cross-border payment still begins and ends in local currency, a step Circle has relied on licensed network participants to perform. Tazapay brings 60+ banking and fintech partners, local payout rails covering 100+ markets, and licenses in five jurisdictions, letting Circle “originate and terminate payments globally, near-instant and 24/7.” Tazapay’s $25B of annualized volume exceeds the $23B CPN had reached as of July 31, 2026; about 60% is already stablecoin-settled and the rest is a natural conversion pipeline for USDC.
The deal also addresses revenue concentration. Reserve income was 96% of Circle’s 2025 revenue and grew only 5% in Q2 2026 as rates declined. Tazapay adds a fee-generating business with 1,000+ customers in Asia-Pacific and emerging markets; Asia alone accounted for roughly 60% of real-world stablecoin payment volume in 2025, according to McKinsey and Artemis.
Architect Partners’ Observations
The stablecoin payments stack is being vertically integrated, and the issuer has now joined in. In under two years, Stripe bought Bridge, Ripple bought Rail, Mastercard bought BVNK, Payward bought Reap, and MoonPay bought Iron, each a distribution owner buying stablecoin orchestration. Circle is doing the reverse, moving into distribution and last-mile fiat.
On price, Circle is paying about 1.6% of annualized volume, well below Mastercard’s roughly 6% for BVNK, Payward’s roughly 10% for Reap, and Stripe’s roughly 22% for Bridge. Part of that is mix: Tazapay’s volume is thin-margin B2B collections and payouts, and 20x to 32x FY2025 revenue is a full price for a company that only reached operational breakeven in 2025. And the $400M is a 3.3x step-up from the Series B valuation set six months ago in a round Circle Ventures co-led.
Sources
PitchBook, Press Release, 8-K, S-1, Tazapay, Circle Q2 2026 Results, CoinDesk, Tech in Asia, CB Insights, McKinsey, StockAnalysis