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Circle Ventures has invested in cross-border payments company CrissCross. The investment was made through CrissCross’s parent company, Stitch Group, a payments infrastructure business based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Circle Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin. The investment will be used to scale CrissCross’s stablecoin-powered cross-border payments infrastructure across more than 30 African markets.
According to CrissCross, businesses and financial institutions want faster, cheaper and more transparent alternatives to traditional correspondent banking across African markets. The company said stablecoins have proven to be of significant value as a settlement layer, especially in markets where currency volatility and thin liquidity corridors can slow payments down and make them more expensive.
James Cope, general manager of CrissCross, said: “Africa’s cross-border payments market is massive, complex, and underserved. Circle Ventures’ investment validates what we’ve been building: infrastructure that can handle that complexity at scale.”
Brian Schultz, vice president of corporate development and ventures at Circle, said: “We’re excited to support CrissCross as they bring stablecoin-powered payments infrastructure to scale across African markets – some of the most complex and underserved corridors in the world.”
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