Circle Joins Forces with Xapo Bank to Avoid Expensive SWIFT Payments
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has entered an agreement with Gibraltar-based Xapo Bank to avoid expensive and lengthy SWIFT payments.
Xapo will convert all USDC deposits at a 1:1 rate to USD and offer an annual rate of 4.1% for holding USDC. Xapo Bank refrains from lending and fractional reserve practices, keeping customer funds in short-term liquid assets.
The bank has also noted that there are no fees involved from their side for depositing and withdrawing funds in stablecoin.
This change in partners comes after Circle was unsuccessful in its partnership with the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
On March 11, USDC lost parity against the dollar after it was reported that Circle held a $3.3 billion portion of the asset’s reserve collateral in SVB.
