Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin unveiled three new APIs for businesses on March 10. The new developer tools are aimed to help traditional businesses use USDC as a replacement to traditional fiat channels.
The new APIs target “any business or internet commerce service,” signaling the company’s intention to move outside of the immediate cryptocurrency environment.
Three distinct classes of APIs are available. The Payments API allows businesses to settle credit card payments for USDC, thus bridging the traditional and crypto ecosystems.
The Wallets API is designed to simplify the storage of stablecoins for Circle customers. It provides a layer of abstraction over complex concepts in cryptocurrency such as nodes, gas fees or private keys — while creating workflows for more complex account and sub-account structures that businesses are more familiar with.
Finally, Marketplace APIs provide tools for online e-commerce and digital service platforms.
The initial release of the APIs occurred on March 10, though their functionality will be “expanded in the coming weeks,” the announcement noted.
Circle consolidating on USDC
As reported by Cointelegraph, the Goldman Sachs-backed fintech company made several moves to shed weight in the past few months.
In February, the investment app Circle Invest was sold to Voyager Digital for an undisclosed sum. The news followed the company’s sale of its over the counter trading desk to Kraken in December.
The trading desk was the last asset remaining from Circle’s ownership of Poloniex, a cryptocurrency exchange it spun off in October 2019. An undisclosed Asian investment group was reported to have taken its reins — with Tron’s (TRX) Justin Sun later being revealed to be part of it. Circle’s consolidation reportedly included layoffs as well.
With the company promising to focus on mass crypto adoption, the release of the new APIs appears to be the first major milestone of the new strategy.