Banking Circle, the Luxembourg-licensed payments bank, has begun offering regulated fiat-to-stablecoin settlement for institutional clients after securing Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) approval from Luxembourg’s financial regulator. The move—announced Monday—formally enables Banking Circle to convert fiat into stablecoins and vice versa under supervision, expanding on the bank’s August 2024 debut of its euro-pegged token, EURI. Institutional settlement now supports USDC (Circle), USDG (Paxos) and Banking Circle’s own EURI, letting clients move value between traditional bank rails and tokenized liquidity within a regulated framework. Banking Circle serves more than 750 payment firms, financial institutions and marketplaces, and says its infrastructure processes over €1.5 trillion (roughly $1.7 trillion) in annual transaction volume. Kirit Bhatia, the bank’s chief digital asset officer, described stablecoins as “a natural extension” of its systems, noting they help lower costs and boost settlement efficiency. Regulatory alignment has been a central goal for Europe’s incumbent banks pushing into tokenized money. Banking Circle’s EURI was among the earliest euro stablecoins issued by a bank with an eye toward compliance under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime; the CASP registration now lets the bank scale those regulated services across its client base. Competition is intensifying across Europe as both traditional banks and crypto-native firms build MiCA-compliant rails. Highlights of recent activity: - Société Générale’s digital unit SG-FORGE launched the euro stablecoin EURCV in April 2023 and later added multiple networks; it integrated a dollar token, USDCV, into MetaMask on April 15 to widen access to bank-issued, regulated stablecoins. - Swiss bank Sygnum added EURCV to its B2B offering in January 2025. - In September 2025 a consortium including ING, UniCredit and CaixaBank announced plans for Qivalis, a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin expected in the second half of 2026; the group has since grown to 12 banks, adding BBVA, BNP Paribas and DZ Bank, and partnered with Fireblocks for custody and tokenization. Crypto firms aren’t standing still: Circle launched the Circle Payments Network in April 2025 to provide managed settlement services for banks and payment providers, while Coinbase and global payments platform Nium struck a partnership (announced April 21) to let businesses fund cross-border transfers using USDC and settle in fiat or stablecoins across more than 190 countries. Why it matters: banking-grade stablecoin settlement combines regulatory oversight with tokenized speed and cost advantages, and Banking Circle’s CASP approval marks another step in mainstreaming regulated rails for institutional crypto flows. Expect more banks and payment platforms to roll out similar services as firms race to offer compliant, cross-border token settlement under evolving European rules. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news