# Participant Map: North America

Updated: September 25, 2026

> North America is the centre of the stablecoin infrastructure market: it hosts the largest orchestration and issuance providers, all three models of the banks' response and the first-tier stablecoin-native blockchains. The US framework took shape in 2025–2026: the GENIUS Act defined three categories of permitted issuers, the OCC issued a series of conditional trust charter approvals, and Treasury published its first rule in August 2026. Canada enacted its Stablecoin Act in March 2026 with the Bank of Canada as supervisor. The region's main story is consolidation: providers are being acquired by Stripe, Ripple, Modern Treasury and MoonPay, while the card networks embed stablecoin settlement into their own infrastructure.

## Regulatory framework: United States

The GENIUS Act was signed on July 18, 2025 (P.L. 119-27). It defines three categories of permitted payment stablecoin issuers: subsidiaries of insured depository institutions; federal qualified issuers — nonbank companies approved by the OCC, as well as uninsured national banks and federal branches; and issuers qualified by a state regulator. The prohibition on issuing payment stablecoins without that status takes effect on January 18, 2027 (18 months after enactment, or 120 days after final rules if earlier); from July 18, 2028, digital asset service providers may offer only stablecoins of permitted issuers. Implementation runs on two tracks: the OCC published its proposed rules on February 25, 2026 (Bulletin 2026-3), and Treasury published the proposed Section 3 rule on August 17, 2026, with comments due October 19; the statutory deadline for final rules is January 18, 2027.

The second element is the banking perimeter. OCC Interpretive Letter 1183 of March 7, 2025 confirmed that national banks may provide crypto-asset custody, hold stablecoin reserves and participate in distributed-ledger nodes without prior supervisory non-objection. Since December 2025 the OCC has been granting conditional approvals of national trust bank charters to stablecoin market companies: on December 12, 2025 — Circle (First National Digital Currency Bank), Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos; on February 12, 2026 — Bridge (Stripe); in April 2026 — Coinbase; on July 9, 2026 — Connectia Trust (Sony Bank); on September 18 and 21, 2026 — Bastion and Agora. Circle received final approval on July 10, 2026; final decisions on Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity had not been made as of late August 2026. Anchorage Digital has operated since January 2021 as the first national trust bank for digital assets. A separate case is Erebor Bank, a full-service national bank for technology and crypto companies: conditional OCC approval on October 15, 2025 and a final charter in February 2026.

Nonbank orchestration providers and ramps operate under money services business (MSB) registration with FinCEN and state money transmitter licences — this is how Bridge, Bastion and Transak (licensed in 11 states) are set up. A separate tier is the NYDFS limited purpose trust charter, held by Paxos, Gemini, Coinbase Custody, BitGo, Fireblocks Trust Company (August 2024), PayPal Digital (May 2024), Bastion (February 2025), MoonPay Trust Company (November 2025) and Circle Internet Trust Company (July 2026).

## Regulatory framework: Canada

The baseline is MSB registration with FINTRAC for businesses "dealing in virtual currency", including foreign businesses serving Canadian clients. The securities regulators (CSA), in Staff Notices 21-332 (December 2022) and 21-333 (October 2023), allowed fiat-backed value-referenced crypto assets on registered platforms subject to reserve, custody and disclosure conditions. The federal Stablecoin Act was proposed in the November 2025 budget and enacted within Bill C-15 (the Budget Implementation Act), with Royal Assent on March 26, 2026: the Bank of Canada registers issuers that are not financial institutions, supervises them and requires full backing with high-quality liquid assets and redemption at par. Regulations are being drafted by the Department of Finance, with entry into force expected in 2027. Payment providers additionally register with the Bank of Canada under the Retail Payment Activities Act — Cybrid, Keyrails and Crossmint have done so.

## Rails and corridors

The card networks are moving stablecoins from pilots into a standard settlement layer. On April 29, 2026 Visa reported an annualized stablecoin settlement run rate of about $7 billion and expanded its settlement networks to nine (Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo added to Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Stellar), with more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programmes in 50+ countries; on July 16, 2026 it introduced the Visa Stablecoin Platform — a single API for banks and fintechs to mint, redeem and move stablecoins, with Open USD as the first supported coin. On June 3, 2026 Mastercard enabled 24/7 issuer–acquirer settlement in USDC, Paxos-issued coins, RLUSD and SoFiUSD across eight networks; the first adopters are ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank and Nuvei, starting in the US and Latin America. Early Warning Services (the Zelle operator) unveiled the ZelleUSD (ZLUSD) stablecoin on June 11, 2026 and named India as the first cross-border corridor, to launch before the end of 2026.

The region's key corridors are US–Mexico and US–Latin America. On July 13, 2026 Hyundai ran a treasury pilot in USDT between Hyundai Motor America and its Mexican subsidiary: $20,000 in seven minutes on Avalanche via Axiym's settlement infrastructure. Félix Pago serves WhatsApp-based remittances to 11 Latin American countries; BlindPay, Latitude, Conduit and Diameter Pay sell businesses the exit from stablecoins into local rails (Pix, SPEI, PSE). Inside the US the base fiat rails are ACH, Fedwire, RTP and FedNow; The Clearing House's tokenized deposit network is being designed with a bridge to CHIPS and RTP.

## Providers

| Company | Type | Headquarters | Role and status as of September 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bridge | 1 (also 2) | US | Owned by Stripe since February 2025 ($1.1B); state money transmitter licences; CASP and EMI in Luxembourg (July 2026); conditional OCC trust charter (February 2026); issues Klarna USD on Tempo and DLUSD for Deel |
| Zerohash | 3 / 4 | Chicago | Independent; $104M Series D (September 2025, Interactive Brokers, Morgan Stanley) at a $1B valuation; takeover talks with Mastercard ended in January 2026 |
| Fireblocks | 6 (also 4) | New York | NYDFS trust company (August 2024); Network for Payments since September 4, 2025: 40+ providers, 100+ countries |
| Conduit | 1 | Boston | $36M Series A (May 2025, Dragonfly, Altos); over $10B in annualized volume; Circle Payments Network partner |
| Mesh | 3 | San Francisco | $82M Series B (March 2025, Paradigm); pay with any crypto, merchant settles in a stablecoin |
| MoonPay | 3 | Miami | Acquired Helio (January 2025) and Iron (March 2025); NYDFS trust company (November 2025) |
| Transak | 3 | Miami | Money transmitter licences in 11 states; ramps for wallets and applications |
| Crossmint | 6 | Miami | $23.6M (March 2025, Ribbit); MSB in the US and Canada, Bank of Canada PSP, CASP in Spain; wallets for applications and AI agents |
| Beam | 1 | US | Owned by Modern Treasury since October 2025 (about $40M, all-stock) |
| Rail (ex-Layer2 Financial) | 1 | Toronto | Owned by Ripple: $200M deal closed in December 2025 |
| Paxos | 2 | New York | NYDFS trust; conditional OCC approval (December 2025); operator of the Global Dollar Network; profile in the Stablecoins section |
| Brale | 2 | Des Moines | Regulated issuance under the client's brand; ION protocol (July 2026) for cross-chain transfer of stablecoins from different issuers |
| Agora | 2 | US | $50M Series A (July 2025, Paradigm); BMA Class F licence (Bermuda); preliminary conditional OCC approval on September 21, 2026 |
| Bastion | 2 / 6 | New York | NYDFS trust (February 2025); conditional OCC approval to convert into a national trust on September 18, 2026; issuance provider for the Sony Bank stablecoin |
| Anchorage Digital | 6 | San Francisco | OCC national trust bank since January 2021; BitLicense (December 2024); acquired Mountain Protocol (USDM) in May 2025 |
| Rain | 5 | US | $250M Series C (January 2026) at a $1.95B valuation; principal member of Visa and Mastercard; Western Union partnership (August 2026) |
| Squads Labs | 6 | US | Grid stablecoin API (May 2025), Altitude business accounts (September 2025); smart accounts on Solana |
| Dakota | 1 / 7 | US | $12.5M Series A (July 2025, CoinFund); stablecoin business accounts; OCC trust charter application (August 2026) |
| Stablecore | 7 | Dallas | $20M (September 2025, Norwest); a "digital core" for regional banks and credit unions; Nasdaq Verafin partnership (September 2026) |
| Cybrid | 7 | Toronto | $10M Series A (October 2025, BDC Capital); Bank of Canada PSP; stablecoin API for banks and remittance companies |
| Keyrails | 3 | Calgary | FINTRAC and FinCEN MSB, Bank of Canada PSP, SWIFT member; payout network in 75+ currencies |
| BlindPay | 3 | San Francisco | YC W25; $3.3M (2025); Pix, SPEI and PSE rails for Latin American corridors |
| Latitude | 3 | US | $35M Series A (September 2026); conversion of stablecoins into local-currency payments |
| Diameter Pay | 3 / 7 | Jersey City | $10M Series A (September 2026, CMT Digital, Lightspeed Faction); New Jersey money transmitter licence; over $10B processed in 2026 to date |
| Checker | 4 | US | $8M (May 2026, Galaxy Ventures, Al Mada, Framework); a single API to stablecoin liquidity for banks and remittance companies |
| Range | 6 | US | $8.3M Series A (June 2026); treasury, risk and compliance for stablecoin and fiat flows; Stellar ecosystem |
| Borderless.xyz | 1 | US | $3M pre-seed (October 2024, Amity Ventures); a network of 19+ providers in 113+ countries |
| Ubyx | 4 | US (Delaware) | $10M seed (June 2025, Galaxy Ventures); investments from Barclays (January 2026) and BitGo (March 2026); clearing of stablecoin redemption at par |
| Payy | 6 / 9 | US | $6M seed (March 2026, FirstMark); private stablecoin payments |

## Banks, consortia and blockchains

| Initiative | Type | Status as of September 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kinexys (JPMorgan) | 8 | JPMD deposit token: pilot in June 2025, available to institutional clients on Base since November 2025, then Canton |
| Citi Token Services | 8 | First external bank participant — Siam Commercial Bank (July 2026); expansion to Japan (September 2026) |
| The Clearing House, On-Chain Money Initiative | 8 | Announced June 2026, 17 banks; clearing of tokenized deposits with a bridge to CHIPS and RTP; launch in the first half of 2027; Quant as technology provider (September 2026) |
| Open USD (Open Standard) | 8 | Announced June 30, 2026; 140+ partners including Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, BlackRock and BNY; free minting and redemption, reserve income shared with distributors; launch later in 2026 |
| 21-bank joint venture | 8 | Announced September 1, 2026; North American members Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, PNC, Scotiabank, TD, Wells Fargo and WisdomTree; dollar coin in the first half of 2027 |
| Early Warning Services (Zelle) | 8 | ZelleUSD (ZLUSD), announced June 11, 2026; seven owner banks; India corridor before the end of 2026 |
| Erebor Bank | 8 | A national bank for the technology and crypto sectors: final OCC charter in February 2026; $350M at a $4.35B valuation (December 2025); $1.1B in deposits within the first seven weeks |
| Cross River Bank, Lead Bank, CBW Bank, SoFi | 8 | Partner banks for Visa and Mastercard stablecoin settlement; SoFiUSD is the first bank-issued stablecoin settling on Mastercard |
| Tempo | 9 | Incubated by Stripe and Paradigm; $500M at a $5B valuation (October 2025); mainnet since March 18, 2026; fees paid in stablecoins |
| Arc | 9 | Circle; public mainnet since September 16, 2026; founding validators BlackRock, Mastercard, Visa, DTCC; USDC as the fee unit |
| Codex | 9 | $15.8M seed (April 2025, Dragonfly); in 2026 positioned as a stablecoin-native FX platform rather than a chain alone |

## What to watch

- Final GENIUS Act rules by January 18, 2027 and the start of the prohibition on issuance without permitted-issuer status.
- Final OCC approvals for Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity; the applications of Kraken (Payward), Dakota and Laser Digital.
- The launch of Open USD and The Clearing House tokenized deposit network in the first half of 2027.
- Regulations under Canada's Stablecoin Act and the start of issuer registration with the Bank of Canada.
- The fate of the independent orchestration providers (Zerohash, Conduit) amid acquisitions by Stripe, Mastercard and Ripple.

## Sources

- [GENIUS Act, official text of the law (P.L. 119-27)](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-119publ27)
- [US Treasury, on the proposed Section 3 rule under the GENIUS Act (August 2026)](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0605)
- [OCC, Bulletin 2026-3 on proposed GENIUS Act rules (February 2026)](https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/bulletins/2026/bulletin-2026-3.html)
- [OCC, Interpretive Letter 1183 (March 2025)](https://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2025/nr-occ-2025-16.html)
- [OCC, conditional trust charter approvals for Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity and Paxos (December 2025)](https://occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2025/nr-occ-2025-125.html)
- [OCC, Corporate Decision 1365 on Bridge (February 2026)](https://www.occ.gov/topics/charters-and-licensing/interpretations-and-decisions/2026/cd1365.pdf)
- [OCC, Corporate Decision 1380 on Connectia Trust / Sony Bank (July 2026)](https://www.occ.gov/topics/charters-and-licensing/interpretations-and-decisions/2026/cd1380.pdf)
- [Circle, on final OCC approval (July 2026)](https://www.circle.com/pressroom/circle-receives-final-occ-approval-to-establish-national-trust-bank)
- [Bastion, on conditional OCC approval (September 2026)](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/09/18/3364956/0/en/bastion-receives-conditional-occ-approval-for-a-national-trust-bank-charter.html)
- [NYDFS, register of virtual currency businesses](https://www.dfs.ny.gov/virtual_currency_businesses)
- [Bank of Canada, stablecoin oversight](https://www.bankofcanada.ca/regulatory-oversight/stablecoins/)
- [OSC, CSA Staff Notice 21-333 on value-referenced crypto assets](https://www.osc.ca/en/securities-law/instruments-rules-policies/2/21-333/csa-staff-notice-21-333-crypto-asset-trading-platforms-terms-and-conditions-trading-value)
- [Fasken, on the Stablecoin Act and the Bank of Canada's mandate (March 2026)](https://www.fasken.com/en/knowledge/2026/03/budget-2025-the-bank-of-canadas-mandate-expands-to-stablecoin-and-open-banking-supervision)
- [Visa, on expanding stablecoin settlement to nine blockchains (April 2026)](https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2026/Visa-Accelerates-Stablecoin-Momentum-Adding-Five-Blockchains-for-Settlement/default.aspx)
- [Mastercard, on 24/7 stablecoin settlement (June 2026)](https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/june/mastercard-expands-settlement-capabilities-to-include-stablecoin.html)
- [Early Warning Services, on ZelleUSD and the India corridor (June 2026)](https://www.earlywarning.com/press-release/zelle-heads-india-unveils-zelleusd-stablecoin-other-markets)
- [The Clearing House, on the On-Chain Money Initiative (June 2026)](https://www.theclearinghouse.org/payment-systems/Articles/2026/06/Major-Financial-Institutions-Unveil-Bank-Led-On-Chain-Money-Initiative)
- [Fortune, on the Open USD announcement (June 2026)](https://fortune.com/2026/06/30/stripe-visa-stablecoin-rival-ousd-tether-circle/)
- [FinTech Futures, on the 21-bank joint venture (September 2026)](https://www.fintechfutures.com/blockchain-crypto-digital-assets/21-global-banks-set-to-launch-usd-pegged-stablecoin-jv)
- [JPMorgan, on the JPMD deposit token for institutional clients](https://www.jpmorgan.com/payments/newsroom/jpm-coin-usd-deposit-token-institutional-clients)
- [Tether, on Hyundai's USDT treasury pilot (July 2026)](https://tether.io/news/global-industrial-conglomerate-hyundai-completes-enterprise-treasury-pilot-on-tether-usdt-moving-corporate-funds-across-global-borders/)
- [Fireblocks, on launching the Network for Payments (September 2025)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fireblocks-launches-network-for-global-stablecoin-payments-302546374.html)
- [CoinDesk, on the end of Zerohash–Mastercard takeover talks (January 2026)](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/01/16/mastercard-said-to-weigh-zerohash-investment-after-crypto-company-ends-takeover-talks)
- [Conduit, on its Series A (May 2025)](https://conduitpay.com/blog/conduit-raises-36m-in-series-a)
- [Ripple, on acquiring Rail (August 2025)](https://ripple.com/ripple-press/ripple-to-acquire-rail-for-200m-expanding-leadership-in-stablecoin-payments/)
- [Modern Treasury, on acquiring Beam (October 2025)](https://www.moderntreasury.com/newsroom/press-releases/modern-treasury-acquires-beam)
- [Dallas Innovates, on Stablecore's round (September 2025)](https://dallasinnovates.com/dallas-based-stablecore-raises-20m-to-bring-stablecoins-and-more-into-banks-and-credit-unions/)
- [BetaKit, on Cybrid's round (October 2025)](https://betakit.com/cybrid-closes-10-million-usd-series-a-round-to-bring-stablecoins-to-the-business-mainstream/)
- [Diameter Pay, on its Series A (September 2026)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/diameter-pay-raises-10-million-to-expand-global-access-to-the-us-dollar-302869225.html)
- [Barclays, on investing in Ubyx (January 2026)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/barclays-invests-in-ubyx-to-advance-digital-money-connectivity-302654135.html)
- [Fortune, on the Tempo mainnet launch (March 2026)](https://fortune.com/2026/03/18/stripe-tempo-paradigm-mpp-ai-payments-protocol/)
- [Circle, on Arc's founding validators and mainnet launch (September 2026)](https://www.circle.com/pressroom/circle-announces-founding-validator-cohort-and-major-integrations-for-arc-ahead-of-september-16-mainnet-launch)

## Mentioned in the digest

- [August 2026 — Treasury's first GENIUS Act rule and the OCC's November deadline; JPMorgan weighs its own stablecoin; the BankChain Alliance](https://stblcns.xyz/reports/State_of_Stablecoins_August_2026)
- [July 2026 — the Open USD consortium; OCC trust charters for Circle and Sony Bank; the Visa Stablecoin Platform; The Clearing House network](https://stblcns.xyz/reports/State_of_Stablecoins_July_2026)
- [June 2026 — Visa and Mastercard embed stablecoin settlement; the US banks' tokenized deposit network; ZLUSD from Zelle](https://stblcns.xyz/reports/State_of_Stablecoins_June_2026)

Canonical: https://stblcns.xyz/en/wiki/infrastructure/north-america