Latin American banks are getting a new way to test stablecoins without replacing the rails they already run. Circle and payments-technology firm ACI Worldwide announced a collaboration to fold USDC settlement into existing banking infrastructure across the region.

The first pilot targets Colombia, where ACI built the central infrastructure behind Bre-B, the country's interoperable instant-payments network. The setup pairs Circle's USDC with ACI Connetic, a cloud-based payments orchestration platform, so that USDC can settle alongside traditional account-to-account transfers.

The pilot is designed as technology-agnostic: it starts with USDC, but ACI's platform is built to support other payment networks and digital-asset providers over time.

The deal extends Circle's push into emerging markets after an earlier Latin American foothold through Mercado Pago. Colombia combines high cross-border remittance volumes with a population used to dollar-denominated savings as an inflation hedge.