Payment 201

The bank behind payment companies and exchanges like Kraken, Checkout, and Worldpay: how Banking Circle started from Saxo's payment project and grew into an institutional network spanning accounts, clearing, and stablecoin reserves.

Whampoa initiated Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) to obtain a license in Bahrain, launching corporate banking services in November 2024, and has now become a point of account and fund delivery between major banks and Crypto, payment institutions. This article reviews its site selection, team, account network, and external USD channels.

This conversation started with Circle's entrepreneurial vision in 2013 and went on to discuss why they believed the existing networks were insufficient after 2020, leading them to build their own L1, Arc, from scratch. The topic ultimately focused on two directions: after stablecoins, who is using this system; and what financial infrastructure should look like when AI starts hiring and paying each other.

In 2025, Ripple announced three major acquisitions: $1.25 billion for Hidden Road, $200 million for Rail, and $1 billion for GTreasury. The total disclosed consideration amounted to $2.45 billion.

The open financial system will operate on the blockchain, and the starting point for all of this is to ensure there is a global, on-chain held liquidity dollar.

Edmond divided the real business of the bank into three parts: global capital flow (B2B payments, remittances, treasury management), capital markets (cash legs of tokenized assets), and the accessibility of digital dollars.

When Payment is sufficiently Digital, how can we truly achieve Interoperable?

If you have a payment track that can achieve interoperability in various application scenarios, then you are solving problems for everyone.

From Trading, Africa Outbound, B2B to VCC, let's see where the money from stablecoins is flowing in this stage.

Payment mobile money, liquidity scheduling money, credit allows future financial capacity to support today's payment in advance.