Trace Finance Raises $32 Million Led by CoinFund to Scale Stablecoin Settlement Across LatAm, U.S. and APAC

Meta Description: Trace Finance raises $32M led by CoinFund to expand stablecoin settlement and FX rails across LatAm, the U.S. and APAC as regulated cross-border crypto payments grow.

Stablecoin settlement infrastructure company Trace Finance said Wednesday, June 17, 2026, that it has raised $32 million in a Series A round led by CoinFund. Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital and Paxos also took part, according to a statement shared with Cointelegraph. The company, which provides banking, foreign exchange and stablecoin settlement infrastructure for cross‑border payments across Latin America, said it has processed more than $10 billion in transaction volume and will use the new funding to expand across Latin America, the United States and Asia‑Pacific. The raise underscores how stablecoin-based settlement is moving further into regulated financial infrastructure as firms race to connect blockchain payments to local banking systems and FX networks.

Market Movement

The announcement arrives in a period when stablecoins are increasingly positioned as plumbing for international money movement rather than as purely crypto trading instruments. While the company did not tie its financing to near‑term price effects, the direction of travel is clear: more resources are being committed to build and connect on‑chain settlement with off‑chain payment rails in major remittance and B2B corridors. Trace Finance’s focus on banking, FX and settlement functions addresses the operational layer that often determines whether stablecoin-denominated flows can reach end beneficiaries in local currency with predictable timing and costs.

A growing base of stablecoin liquidity provides the backdrop. According to DeFiLlama data cited by the company, stablecoin market capitalization stands at about $315 billion, reflecting sizeable on‑chain dollar liquidity that infrastructure firms aim to route into mainstream payments. The larger the base, the greater the potential to compress frictions across foreign exchange, treasury workflows and payout networks. Bringing those pieces together is the bet investors in this round are making.

Trading Activity

Stablecoins function as the quote currency across many digital asset venues, and improvements in issuance, redemption and settlement rails can feed into exchange liquidity and market depth. The ability to move between fiat, stablecoins and other digital assets with less delay can tighten spreads and reduce slippage in volatile conditions. The narrative is not about speculative appreciation—stablecoins are designed to hold parity—but about reducing frictions that influence how quickly capital can rotate between venues, intermediaries and jurisdictions.

Recent product developments point to the same dynamic. Last Thursday, cross‑border payout platform MassPay partnered with Coinbase to offer stablecoin-powered international payouts. The companies said the service would allow customers to move between fiat currencies, USDC and other digital assets while aiming to reduce costs and accelerate settlement times. Such capabilities—when embedded into merchant flows or marketplace disbursements—can directly influence the cadence of on‑chain inflows and outflows, which market participants watch as a gauge of liquidity conditions.

Investor Sentiment

Backers in the Series A—CoinFund as lead, with Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital and Paxos participating—are leaning into a thesis that regulated, fiat‑linked crypto instruments can become the connective tissue between blockchain networks and incumbent payment infrastructures. Their participation also tracks with prior interest around the company: in 2022, Trace Finance raised $4.3 million in a seed round led by HOF Capital, alongside Circle Ventures and Mantis VC; HOF Capital also joined the latest round. The continuity of support suggests investors see a commercially defensible role for firms that can integrate compliance, FX conversion and bank connectivity with stablecoin rails across multiple jurisdictions.

Investor focus has shifted toward products that address real payment frictions—settlement speed, reconciliation and cross‑border reach. In that context, venture attention to stablecoin infrastructure aims less at directional crypto beta and more at recurring, transaction‑linked revenue models. For teams operating in Latin America—where cross‑border trade and payouts often intersect with evolving local banking frameworks—that opportunity set can be particularly vivid.

Broader Market Context

Policy clarity has marched ahead in parallel. In the United States, discussions around stablecoin frameworks accelerated after President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July 2025, catalyzing broader debates on the role of fiat‑referenced tokens in payments and banking. Hong Kong implemented its Stablecoin Ordinance in August 2025 and has since granted its first batch of licenses, establishing a permissioned path for issuance and use within a tightly supervised regime. On Wednesday, People’s Bank of China official Wang Xin said authorities are closely monitoring how stablecoins could affect the international monetary system and cross‑border payments, a stance that contrasts with—but also complements in tone—comments from PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng in October 2025 describing stablecoins as high‑risk and vulnerable to misuse for illicit cross‑border transfers.

This blend of licensing, supervision and monitoring is shaping how private companies deploy stablecoin rails. Payments providers and infrastructure firms have pushed forward: Stripe acquired Bridge in 2025 to boost stablecoin capabilities, and Circle launched its Circle Payments Network in May 2025 to connect banks, payment companies and digital wallets for real‑time cross‑border settlement using stablecoins. Each move points toward a system in which fiat‑linked tokens interface more directly with bank accounts and e‑money wallets, rather than living only on exchanges and crypto‑native platforms.

Industry Impact

Trace Finance’s mandate—banking integration, FX and settlement—targets the bottlenecks that have historically limited stablecoins’ utility in day‑to‑day payments. For corporate treasurers and payment firms, the challenge is less about the token itself and more about the rails surrounding it: onboarding, transaction monitoring, counterparty risk, foreign exchange at competitive rates, and timely redemption into local currencies. By building connective infrastructure across Latin America and extending to the U.S. and APAC, Trace Finance is positioning to intermediate those frictions, effectively translating on‑chain balances into off‑chain payouts with predictable settlement.

The reported $10 billion in transaction volume processed by the company signals that stablecoin‑denominated flows are already moving through its stack. As firms scale, network effects can emerge: more counterparties connected to a common settlement layer can shrink the number of hops required to complete a payment, compressing reconciliation timelines and potentially reducing fees. In corridors where banking relationships are fragmented, a single API‑driven integration that addresses compliance and FX can be a material differentiator for marketplaces, fintechs and exporters managing multicurrency cash cycles.

In parallel, the involvement of industry participants like Paxos—a regulated issuer and infrastructure provider—highlights the convergence between token issuance and settlement services. While Trace Finance’s raise does not change the mechanics of any particular stablecoin, it underscores how issuers, exchanges and infrastructure firms increasingly operate within the same commercial lattice, each anchoring a different layer of the payment stack. The more tightly these layers are coordinated, the greater the chance for end‑to‑end settlement standards to emerge across jurisdictions.

What This Means for Crypto Markets

For crypto market structure, stronger fiat‑to‑stablecoin on‑ and off‑ramps can influence both liquidity and risk management. Faster settlement cycles shorten the time assets are in transit, which can reduce counterparty exposure and free up working capital for market makers and OTC desks. In practice, that can translate into more responsive liquidity during periods of volatility and smoother arbitrage flows across venues and regions.

For exchanges and brokers, the spread between on‑chain transfer costs and off‑chain banking fees is a key determinant of routing decisions. Infrastructure that streamlines conversions between bank deposits, stablecoins and local‑currency payouts can steer flows toward venues where net settlement costs are lowest. Over time, those efficiencies can reinforce the central role of stablecoins as base collateral and trade settlement media, even as policy makers focus on guardrails for issuance, reserves and redemption guarantees.

In payments, stablecoin rails can sit behind consumer‑facing experiences without users ever touching a crypto wallet. The MassPay–Coinbase partnership illustrates that point: customers can move between fiat currencies, USDC and other digital assets with an eye toward lower costs and faster payouts. As more payment processors and marketplaces adopt similar models, the proportion of stablecoin activity tied to commerce and B2B payouts—rather than only exchange trading—can grow. That shift would make the category less cyclical with crypto market sentiment and more linked to real‑economy payment flows.

Historical Comparisons

The trendline mirrors earlier phases of financial technology where back‑end connectivity matured before front‑end experiences became widespread. Just as API banking and faster payment schemes broadened access to domestic clearing systems, stablecoin settlement layers are being built to do the same across borders. The difference lies in the base layer: public blockchains standardize message formats and settlement finality across counterparties who may not share a common bank. For firms like Trace Finance, the commercial opportunity is to translate those features into compliant, bank‑connected services that fit existing treasury, accounting and FX workflows.

Seed‑to‑Series‑A progression at Trace Finance also tracks with a broader industry arc. The company raised $4.3 million in 2022 led by HOF Capital—with Circle Ventures and Mantis VC participating—and has since brought HOF Capital into the Series A. That path suggests product‑market fit in its initial corridors and appetite to add more geographies and banking partners. The next stage—expanding across Latin America, the U.S. and Asia‑Pacific—will test how scalable its integrations are across varied regulatory and banking regimes.

Regulatory Considerations

As policy frameworks evolve, infrastructure providers must align product design with local rules on issuance, redemption, reserve management and customer protection. The U.S. GENIUS Act in July 2025 accelerated policy discussion around stablecoin oversight, while Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance—implemented in August 2025 with licenses now granted—offers a model for jurisdiction‑specific permissions. China’s central bank has voiced both caution and continued monitoring, underscoring that cross‑border use remains a sensitive area. These dynamics shape how and where settlement services can be offered and what operational controls are required.

For firms expanding into new markets, licensing and partnerships often go hand in hand. Stripe’s 2025 acquisition of Bridge and Circle’s launch of its Circle Payments Network in May 2025 are examples of companies assembling the components needed to interoperate with banks, payment companies and digital wallets for real‑time cross‑border settlement using stablecoins. Trace Finance’s capital raise indicates that more players intend to compete in the same arena, each seeking to plug into domestic systems while offering standardized on‑chain connectivity.

Operational and FX Dynamics

Cross‑border payments hinge on two variables: the cost and reliability of moving value across networks, and the efficiency of converting that value into local currencies. Stablecoins address the first variable by providing programmable settlement that can operate 24/7. The second variable—FX—requires access to competitive pricing, liquidity and compliance tooling. Trace Finance’s stated focus on banking and FX suggests it is targeting the conversion layer where many payment companies either build bespoke integrations or rely on a patchwork of correspondents.

When settlement and FX are orchestrated by a single provider, corporates can gain greater predictability around cut‑off times, posting of funds and reconciliation. For marketplaces and platforms with global seller bases, those attributes can translate into tighter payout windows and improved cash‑flow visibility. As more corridors come online—Latin America first, followed by the U.S. and APAC per Trace Finance’s plan—the addressable market broadens from niche crypto‑native flows to mainstream cross‑border disbursements.

Competitive Landscape

The list of actors building in stablecoin settlement is lengthening. Issuers, exchanges, payment processors and dedicated infrastructure companies are each developing pieces of the stack. Recent partnerships like MassPay’s with Coinbase and corporate moves such as Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge and Circle’s launch of its own network reflect a race to control distribution and endpoints. Trace Finance’s differentiation rests on its regional expertise in Latin America and the breadth of its banking and FX integrations, paired with experience processing more than $10 billion in transactions to date.

As the market matures, firms will likely compete on reliability, compliance posture and interoperability with banks and wallets, rather than on the specific blockchain they support. That places a premium on building standards‑based connectivity that can accommodate a range of stablecoins and local payment instruments, all while meeting jurisdiction‑specific requirements.

What This Means for Crypto Markets

For digital asset markets, the practical upshot is more resilient fiat‑to‑stablecoin liquidity and faster settlement across regions. When exchanges, brokers, market makers and payment companies can move funds quickly between fiat and stablecoins—and redeem into local currencies without excessive friction—market depth can improve and operational risk can decline. This, in turn, can support tighter pricing for end users and potentially higher throughput in periods of elevated demand.

With stablecoin market capitalization around $315 billion, even modest gains in settlement efficiency can unlock meaningful transaction capacity. The latest funding for Trace Finance signals that investors expect demand for such infrastructure to expand as policy hardens and as more payment platforms embed stablecoin rails into their offerings.

Conclusion

Trace Finance’s $32 million Series A led by CoinFund, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital and Paxos, adds fresh capital to a segment of crypto that is steadily becoming core financial infrastructure. The company plans to extend its banking, FX and stablecoin settlement services beyond Latin America into the U.S. and APAC, building on more than $10 billion in processed volume. The raise follows a 2022 seed round of $4.3 million led by HOF Capital—now also a participant in the Series A—and arrives as regulators articulate clearer stablecoin rules and payments firms roll out cross‑border products powered by fiat‑linked tokens.

As on‑chain and off‑chain systems converge, the competitive edge will go to companies that can translate policy clarity and technical rails into dependable, bank‑connected settlement. For investors and operators, the takeaway is straightforward: stablecoin infrastructure is transitioning from a niche enabler of crypto trading to a regulated backbone for global payouts—and capital is flowing to the builders of that bridge.