How Circle Helps Rise Leverage Stablecoins for Payroll
"Building the first truly onchain payroll system, we wanted a stablecoin with real infrastructure, trust, and global reach. USDC clearly stood out. Circle's partnership has been instrumental in helping us scale from a startup to processing hundreds of millions in payroll volume.” - Hugo Finkelstein, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Rise
Global payroll has traditionally been slow, opaque, and fragmented as it remains riddled with wire transfer delays, high FX spreads, and compliance risks. Traditional international payments often take three to five business days to settle, with fees ranging from $15-50 per transaction plus unfavorable exchange rates that can add 2-4% in hidden costs.
As a hybrid payroll platform, Rise set out to modernize international payouts, offering both fiat and crypto payments to contractors and employees around the world. However, to scale faster and improve transparency, Rise needed trusted digital dollar infrastructure designed to maintain stable value that matched their onchain payroll vision.
Rise recognized that their growth would be limited without solving fundamental issues around payment speed, cost, and transparency that plague traditional payroll systems.
A stablecoin payroll strategy to unlock business opportunity
Rise chose USDC as the primary stablecoin integrated into their platform. With its transparent reserves and broad blockchain support, USDC provided a seamless way for companies and contractors to move funds near-instantly and with robust auditability.
Circle's USDC infrastructure enables Rise to offer several key growth advantages:
Near-instant settlement
Unlike traditional wire transfers that can take days, USDC payments can settle within minutes, allowing Rise to offer same-day payroll processing that attracts time-sensitive clients and contractors.
Cost efficiency
By eliminating intermediary banks and reducing FX conversion fees, Rise can offer more competitive pricing to clients while maintaining healthy margins, directly supporting their customer acquisition strategy.
Global accessibility
USDC's availability across 20+ blockchains allows Rise to serve contractors with different blockchain preferences, particularly in regions where traditional banking infrastructure is limited, expanding their addressable market meaningfully.
Transparency
Circle's regulatory-first posture, and its reserve management practices, including its monthly USDC attestations and reserve transparency, often help Rise meet enterprise requirements, enabling them to onboard larger corporate clients.
Today, Rise allows companies to fund payroll and enable withdrawals in USDC across its full product suite: Agent of Record (AOR); Employer of Record (EOR); Global Contractor Pay; Direct Payroll. This architecture empowers businesses to pay global teams in seconds rather than days without relying on fragmented banking rails.
Seamless USDC integration has become a key differentiator in Rise's sales process, with many clients citing stablecoin payment capabilities as a primary reason for choosing Rise over competitors.
A seamless USDC payroll integration
Rise devoted considerable effort to abstracting away the complexities of blockchain for payrollmanagers. By integrating Circle's mint-and-burn infrastructure, Rise enabled companies to convert fiat to USDC inside the platform and vice versa without requiring any deep crypto knowledge.
Rise enabled USDC on multiple blockchains, giving their clients the ability to choose lower-cost or faster networks, depending on their needs.
And, the engineering team also built modules for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks that automatically trigger when new employees register for payroll in USDC. The platform logs every transaction for tax and reporting purposes, and HR managers can pull this information in standard payroll report formats to meet both local and international requirements.
From the perspective of the HR manager, paying in USDC is as simple as using any other currency.
"Our biggest challenge was ensuring a traditional payroll experience while leveraging cutting-edge blockchain rails. We spent months fine-tuning the product so finance teams could focus on business outcomes, not blockchain complexities.” - Andrew Mauer, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Rise
Going to market with USDC
The partnership with Circle has delivered measurable growth for Rise:1
$800M+ total payroll volume processed through Rise, with 60% utilizing USDC
Settlements reduced from days to seconds, enhancing efficiency and reducing reliance on legacy banks
Transparent, onchain audit trails increase confidence and help to satisfy enterprise requirements
53%+ of contractors choose stablecoin payouts, with USDC representing 80% of crypto payments
"Rise’s integration of USDC is a textbook example of how stablecoins can transform cross-border payments. By replacing days-long settlement times with near-instant transactions, they’re not just improving payroll—they’re redefining what’s possible for a global workforce.” - Jeff Lennox, Vice President of Business Development, Circle
A blueprint for the future of payroll
Together, Rise and Circle are committed to building the future of work, one where payroll is near-instant and global. Together, Rise and Circle have demonstrated that a well-engineered stablecoin platform, underpinned by cutting edge technology and robust transparency can provide tangible business advantages: speed, cost efficiency, financial inclusivity and customer acquisition.
Today, Rise sets itself apart as more than just a niche payroll solution. Its ambitious roadmap includes broadening services into deeper HR and EOR functionalities, while exploring expansions of stablecoin payout options. With USDC at the core, the company envisions a future where sending digital dollars to remote workers is as ordinary—and as effortless—as sending an email.
"By making real-time, cost-effective global payroll a reality, Rise is transforming a back-office burden into a strategic advantage. This is the promise that USDC helps us deliver: bridging companies, employees, and global markets in a frictionless, transparent way.” - Hugo Finkelstein, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Rise