Standard Chartered and BNY Open Institutional USDC Access in the Same Week
Standard Chartered and BNY both activated institutional USDC minting and redemption services within the same week, with BNY going live on June 29 and Standard Chartered launching in Dubai on July 2, 2026. The moves come as Circle faces rising competition from rival stablecoin Open USD.
Two major global banks — Standard Chartered and BNY — activated institutional access to Circle's USDC stablecoin within three days of each other, marking a significant expansion of regulated stablecoin infrastructure for corporate clients.
BNY moved first. On June 29, 2026, the bank enabled clients to mint, redeem, and hold USDC through its Digital Asset Custody platform. BNY currently custodies USDC's reserves and oversees $59.3 trillion in assets under custody or administration, making it one of the most consequential institutions to integrate the stablecoin directly into client services. The bank said it plans to add further stablecoin issuers to the platform over time.
Standard Chartered followed on July 2, 2026, announcing a partnership with Circle that makes it the first Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB) to offer institutional clients direct access to USDC minting and redemption as a bundled service. Eligible clients can convert dollars to USDC and back within their existing banking relationship, requiring no separate Circle account. The initial rollout is limited to the bank's Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) operations, with broader geographic expansion contingent on regulatory approvals and market readiness.
The service at Standard Chartered is designed to support on-chain settlement, treasury operations, and liquidity management, with payment use cases slated for a later phase. Roberto Hoornweg, CEO of Corporate and Investment Banking at Standard Chartered, stated in the announcement that 'digital assets are becoming an increasingly important component of global financial infrastructure, and institutional clients are seeking the same levels of trust and governance that underpin traditional markets.'
Standard Chartered's involvement with Circle predates the Dubai launch. The bank has participated in designing the Circle Payments Network since April 2025, alongside Santander, Deutsche Bank, and Société Générale. This week the bank also initiated coverage of DeFi lending protocol Morpho.
USDC currently carries a market capitalization of $73.2 billion, according to DefiLlama data. Both bank integrations arrive as Circle faces growing competitive pressure: its stock dropped 15% last week after 140 firms — including Visa and Coinbase — announced support for a rival stablecoin, Open USD.
Bank-level distribution gives USDC deeper institutional rails at a moment when its enterprise position is being directly challenged. Regulatory pace remains a key variable. Circle retained its European listings under MiCA while Tether's USDT withdrew, but Standard Chartered's global rollout still requires market-by-market approvals before expanding beyond Dubai.
