Case Study: Thunes achieves always-on cross-border payments with Circle’s USDC

Thunes cuts cross-border settlement from T+2 to T+0 with Circle

Thunes, a cross-border payments service connecting billions of mobile wallets and bank accounts globally, faced significant challenges with traditional banking rails. Pre-funding for its network members often took several business days, requiring large amounts of capital to be held in nostro accounts to cover weekends and holidays. This process created friction, increased exposure to FX volatility, and hindered Thunes' ability to meet the demand for real-time payments in critical sectors like remittances and gig economy payouts.

Partnering with Circle and integrating its USDC stablecoin, Thunes implemented a solution for always-on settlement. This dramatically reduced funding delays from days to minutes or seconds, eliminated the need for excess capital float, and mitigated FX risk. The results were substantial, with month-over-month growth in USDC funding volumes of nearly one-third. Circle's support was pivotal in the integration, enabling Thunes to transform its treasury operations and free up millions in working capital for strategic redeployment.

Thunes