Circle and Robinhood Strike Deals to Expand Their Crypto Reach
Circle and Robinhood announced separate deals on September 8 that target two bottlenecks in digital finance: moving stablecoins into local banking systems and getting new trading products in front of retail users.
Summary:
- Tazapay brings Circle payout coverage across more than 100 markets and over 60 banking and fintech partners.
- More than half of Tazapay’s existing payment volume already involves stablecoins.
- Robinhood will invest in Crypto.com and OG.com while adding another source of prediction contracts to its platform.
- Investors now have different tests to watch: USDC payment activity for Circle and incremental prediction-market volume for Robinhood.
Circle agreed to acquire cross-border payments company Tazapay, while Robinhood will take minority stakes in Crypto.com and prediction-market operator OG.com under a broader distribution partnership. The deals differ in structure, but both companies are spending capital to gain more control over how their financial products reach customers.
Tazapay Gives Circle the Local Rails USDC Cannot Provide Alone
USDC can move between blockchain addresses without relying on conventional correspondent banking. The harder part comes at either end of the transaction.
A business paying from a domestic bank account still needs a way into stablecoins. The recipient may then need USDC converted into local currency and deposited through another country’s banking system.
Tazapay provides much of that connection.
The Singapore-based payments company has more than 60 banking and fintech partners and supports local payouts across over 100 markets. It processes more than $25 billion in annualized payment volume, according to Circle’s disclosure.
Around 60% of that volume already involves stablecoins, making Tazapay more than a conventional payments company that Circle hopes to convert to blockchain settlement. The infrastructure already handles substantial digital-asset flows.
Tazapay has also been a design partner for Circle Payments Network since 2025. The acquisition would therefore bring an existing participant in Circle’s network under the same corporate roof.
The practical result is a more complete payment route: USDC handles digital settlement, Circle Payments Network coordinates participating institutions, and Tazapay provides connections into local financial systems.
For businesses, that could matter more than another blockchain integration. Cross-border stablecoin payments are only useful at scale if companies can reliably enter and exit the digital-dollar system in the currencies they actually use.
Circle Is Paying With Equity for More Control Over Distribution
Circle values the transaction at approximately $400 million, with consideration paid in Class A common shares rather than cash, according to its SEC filing. The acquisition is expected to close in 2027 and remains subject to customary conditions, including approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Using equity preserves Circle’s cash while giving it ownership of infrastructure that could increase the utility and distribution of USDC.
The deal also creates a clear benchmark for judging whether the acquisition works.
Tazapay’s existing payment volume is impressive, but volume alone does not necessarily benefit Circle. The more useful numbers after integration will be the share of those payments settled through USDC, activity routed through Circle Payments Network and any resulting contribution to Circle’s transaction-based revenue.
That is where the $400 million price ultimately has to earn its return.
Robinhood Is Buying Into the Market Infrastructure It Uses
Robinhood’s agreement with Crypto.com takes a different route.
The brokerage will acquire minority stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com, the prediction-market business spun out of Crypto.com, while entering a multiyear agreement to distribute Crypto.com-backed event contracts through Robinhood. According to The Wall Street Journal, financial terms and ownership percentages have not been disclosed.
Robinhood already offers prediction markets, so the deal is not an entry into the category. Instead, it adds another provider alongside the infrastructure relationships the company has already built.
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That diversification matters in a market where product selection, liquidity and execution can determine whether users remain active on a platform.
Crypto.com gets something equally useful: access to Robinhood’s retail distribution without having to acquire those customers individually.
Robinhood, meanwhile, gains more than a supplier relationship. If OG.com expands as prediction markets grow, Robinhood can potentially benefit both from activity generated inside its own app and from the value of its minority investment.
Equity Ownership Creates a New Question for Robinhood
That structure also deserves scrutiny.
When a brokerage owns part of a company supplying products to its customers, investors need to understand how contracts are selected and routed, particularly when competing providers are available.
Robinhood has not disclosed enough information to quantify that issue yet. The size of the stakes, purchase price, governance rights and detailed commercial economics remain unknown.
Those disclosures will determine whether the investments are relatively small additions to a distribution agreement or meaningful strategic positions.
The partnership could also extend beyond prediction markets. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek told The Wall Street Journal that the companies are exploring equity-linked perpetual futures, although any such products would depend on regulatory approval.
That possibility fits Robinhood’s broader expansion from stock brokerage into crypto, futures and event contracts, but it should not be treated as a confirmed product launch.
The Next Numbers Will Matter More Than the Deal Headlines
Circle and Robinhood now face different tests.
For Circle, the first hurdle is closing the Tazapay acquisition. After that, investors can watch whether existing payment flows actually migrate toward USDC and whether ownership of local payout infrastructure increases usage of Circle Payments Network.
Robinhood’s results should be easier to see in trading activity. Adding Crypto.com’s contracts creates value if it attracts additional prediction-market volume, improves the product available to customers or produces better economics than relying solely on existing providers.
The undisclosed equity stakes add another variable. Their importance will depend on how much Robinhood owns and how OG.com develops as an independent prediction-market business.
Those are more useful measures than the announcements themselves. Circle has to prove that owning more payment infrastructure increases USDC’s real-world use, while Robinhood has to show that owning pieces of its trading partners generates activity it would not have captured otherwise.
The information presented in this article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or trading advice. Coinspress.com does not promote or advocate for any particular investment strategy, asset, or cryptocurrency project. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and unpredictable – always perform your own research and seek guidance from a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
