💡 On October 22, #Circle opened a service called Circle Match. Once an hour it matches institutional orders to issue and redeem USDC. Access is limited to approved Circle Mint clients, and not in every jurisdiction. Someone redeeming USDC for dollars sets the maximum fee they will pay. Someone minting dollars into USDC sets the minimum rebate they will accept.
Every matched order clears at a single fee, and the redeeming side pays it. Circle currently passes that entire fee to matched minters as spendable USDC in a standard Mint wallet, with no extra margin of its own on the volume. A rebate goes only to someone whose mint order actually matched, not to someone who merely holds USDC. The fee on a matched redemption cannot exceed either the client’s cap or the rate on Circle’s Express redemption service. If the auction clears below Express, redemption can cost less, but Circle does not guarantee that. Match is separate from the redemption-surcharge removal reported on October 19.
Both sides must fund orders before they submit them. Redeemers lock USDC. Minters move dollars into a separate Match balance, which converts into restricted USDC. Under the minting agreement for clients outside the European Economic Area, that pre-funding cannot be sent to an external blockchain address. The only exit is through Match itself: the restricted USDC is reissued, and dollars go back to the registered bank account. Existing weekly deposit and withdrawal limits for minting still apply.
One minute before clearing, a locked order cannot be withdrawn, but a new order can be submitted and a price can be improved. More competitive prices fill first, and orders exactly at the clearing price fill pro rata. Any unfilled amount follows the Fallback the user chose: Roll or Cancel. Submitting an order does not guarantee a rebate or a full fill. Circle describes matched trades as atomic in #USDC and says redemption payouts arrive as quickly as through Express. For clients outside the EEA, though, section 2.12 of the agreement ties dollar payouts to U.S. bank business hours
Every matched order clears at a single fee, and the redeeming side pays it. Circle currently passes that entire fee to matched minters as spendable USDC in a standard Mint wallet, with no extra margin of its own on the volume. A rebate goes only to someone whose mint order actually matched, not to someone who merely holds USDC. The fee on a matched redemption cannot exceed either the client’s cap or the rate on Circle’s Express redemption service. If the auction clears below Express, redemption can cost less, but Circle does not guarantee that. Match is separate from the redemption-surcharge removal reported on October 19.
Both sides must fund orders before they submit them. Redeemers lock USDC. Minters move dollars into a separate Match balance, which converts into restricted USDC. Under the minting agreement for clients outside the European Economic Area, that pre-funding cannot be sent to an external blockchain address. The only exit is through Match itself: the restricted USDC is reissued, and dollars go back to the registered bank account. Existing weekly deposit and withdrawal limits for minting still apply.
One minute before clearing, a locked order cannot be withdrawn, but a new order can be submitted and a price can be improved. More competitive prices fill first, and orders exactly at the clearing price fill pro rata. Any unfilled amount follows the Fallback the user chose: Roll or Cancel. Submitting an order does not guarantee a rebate or a full fill. Circle describes matched trades as atomic in #USDC and says redemption payouts arrive as quickly as through Express. For clients outside the EEA, though, section 2.12 of the agreement ties dollar payouts to U.S. bank business hours