Circle places $400M Tazapay bet after Uniswap takes the lead

Uniswap [UNI] has overtaken Circle [CRCL] to become the second-highest fee-generating crypto protocol. The timing couldn’t have been more peculiar though, with Circle pushing into payments through its Tazapay buy.

Here’s the rundown!

Uniswap overtakes Circle!

Uniswap generated about $66.8 million in protocol fees over the past week. That development pushed the platform ahead of Circle.

It is now also the second-highest fee-generating crypto protocol after Tether [USDT].

A contributor to this growth might just be Robinhood’s new Ethereum L2. More users and transactions on the network have increased demand for on-chain trading, something that has worked in Uniswap’s favour.

Circle bets bigger on USDC Payments with Tazapay acquisition

While Uniswap has been gaining ground, Circle may just be playing a different game though.

The stablecoin behemoth will soon buy Singapore-based payments platform Tazapay. The deal is reportedly worth about $400 million, all-stock. The transaction is expected to close in 2027, pending regulatory approvals.

Irfan Ganchi, Senior Vice President of Payments at Circle, said,

Combined with Circle’s existing network, Tazapay extends our coverage to move money anywhere stablecoin payments are being adopted globally.

Tazapay already handles more than $25 billion in annualised payment volume. They also work with over 60 banking and fintech partners. Its local payout network reaches more than 100 markets. This suggested that Circle would get a much wider base for moving USDC across borders.

Accordig to Co-Founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire,

We are excited to bring the team in-house and work together towards accelerating Circle’s mission.

Notably, stablecoins already make up around 60% of Tazapay’s transaction volume.

AMBCrypto previously reported that Circle’s USYC was also in a close race with BlackRock’s BUIDL in the tokenized Treasury market. The gap between the two was small, so money inflow or outflow can quickly change their positions.

Circle has been connected to the company for some time. It previously invested in Tazapay through Circle Ventures, and Tazapay has also been a design partner for Circle Payments Network since 2025.

Final Summary

• Uniswap generated about $66.8M in weekly protocol fees, overtaking Circle.
• The latter is expanding USDC payments with its $400M Tazapay acquisition.