Circle Expands USDC Across XRPL, Shopify, and World Chain Amid $50M SBI Backing and ETF Hype

USDC Gains Traction Through Native Integrations, Institutional Adoption, and E-commerce Rollout

Circle’s rapid expansion of USDC across major blockchain, identity, and e-commerce platforms marks a significant moment for the stablecoin’s real-world utility and institutional backing. 

On June 12, 2025, Circle launched native USDC on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) mainnet, removing the need for third-party bridges and enabling faster, cheaper, and more secure dollar transfers on a blockchain known for high throughput and minimal transaction fees. This launch makes XRPL the 22nd blockchain to support USDC natively. Alongside this integration, XRPL’s development roadmap features an EVM-compatible sidechain slated for rollout in Q2 2025, bridging Ethereum smart contracts with the XRPL ecosystem. The sidechain’s testnet is already live, with full deployment expected by mid-year.

Since its inception in 2012, XRPL has processed more than 3.3 billion transactions. The addition of USDC strengthens its real-world asset and decentralized finance footprint, particularly as institutional platforms like Ondo Finance integrate tokenized U.S. Treasury products such as OUSG on XRPL. OUSG, redeemable in RLUSD, positions the ledger as a credible venue for tokenized fixed-income products. Ripple, a key player behind XRPL, has invested $10 million in the Decentralized Credit Protocol (DCP), which has now issued more than $280 million in tokenized assets. This further emphasizes Ripple's bet on combining stablecoin infrastructure with real-world financial use cases.

Despite the strategic growth, the market showed a brief pullback. Circle’s stock (CRCL), which had surged from its IPO price of $31 to highs of $138, dropped roughly 9.1% in one day following the USDC-on-XRPL announcement, bringing it into the $110–120 range. 

Still, the overall momentum behind CRCL remains strong. Earlier this week, asset managers T-REX, ProShares, and Bitwise filed for ETFs based on CRCL shares, according to Bloomberg ETF Analyst Henry Jim. Notably, T-REX is planning a 2x leveraged ETF with a projected effective date of August 11, 2025. These filings followed Circle’s NYSE debut on June 5, which raised $1.1 billion and gave the company a $6.9 billion valuation.

Circle’s stablecoin push also gained ground in the decentralized identity space. World Chain, built by Tools for Humanity and the team behind World ID, upgraded nearly 2 million bridged USDC to native USDC using Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) V2. This transition enhances liquidity, slashes transaction costs, and opens the door to verified-user DeFi applications. World Chain’s identity layer already spans 160 countries and has verified 27 million users. The native USDC now integrates directly with World App mini-apps, allowing seamless, fraud-resistant financial services and transfers on-chain.

On the commerce front, Shopify announced support for USDC payments via Coinbase’s Base network on the same day as the XRPL launch. The integration—live through Shopify Payments and Shop Pay—allows merchants to accept USDC without third-party gateways, instantly expanding stablecoin usability to a global audience of roughly 875 million shoppers. Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke called stablecoins “a natural way to transact on the internet,” while Coinbase CTO Allan Leinwand highlighted the elimination of foreign-exchange fees and the efficiency of Web3 rails. A consumer cashback program offering 1% rewards on USDC purchases is expected to launch later this year in the U.S., with zero cost to merchants.

Rounding out the wave of developments, Japanese financial giant SBI Group injected $50 million into Circle, purchasing one of the largest equity allocations through two of its subsidiaries. The investment reflects a strong institutional belief in USDC’s infrastructure and future relevance in global financial systems. USDC currently holds a market cap of approximately $61 billion, trailing only USDT’s ~$155 billion, yet continues to gain ground through strategic network integrations, regulatory-aligned partnerships, and increasing coin market cap share across crypto price index platforms.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.