Hong Kong-based digital asset platform OSL has onboarded more than $200 million in USDC deposits within roughly four months of launching StableHub, its multi-stablecoin and USD exchange hub built in collaboration with Circle. The milestone is the latest — and one of the largest — data points showing that regulated institutional demand for dollar-denominated stablecoins in Asia-Pacific (APAC) is not theoretical. It is already moving real money through licensed rails.
The launch fits into a broader pattern this year of Circle deepening its footprint across Asia through regulated local partners, from card networks in Japan to banks in South Korea and payment infrastructure spanning 190+ countries. OSL’s numbers give that pattern a concrete institutional data point.
The problem: fragmented dollar liquidity in APAC
Enterprises and institutions running cross-border operations in APAC have long faced a structural gap. To get USDC exposure, many have had to route through a patchwork of offshore trading venues — some unregulated — that sit apart from their actual payment and settlement rails. That means extra counterparties, fragmented liquidity, and added compliance risk, even for firms whose treasury operations (or counterparties) already run on USDC.
OSL was built to close that gap. The company operates a global stablecoin payment and trading platform spanning exchange infrastructure, custody, payments, treasury, and embedded stablecoin services, delivered through locally licensed entities. OSL reports holding more than 50 regulatory licenses and registrations across more than ten regions, including Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, Canada, and Europe. What it lacked was a compliant way to meet institutional demand for USDC without forcing clients to split custody, settlement, and on/off-ramp activity across multiple counterparties.
StableHub: one gateway instead of many
Working with Circle, OSL built StableHub, a one-stop multi-stablecoin and USD exchange hub that aggregates liquidity across supported stablecoins. USDC was among the first assets integrated, letting eligible clients convert USDC to USD on a 1:1 basis, subject to applicable limits. Instead of sourcing liquidity across several venues, clients can consolidate USDC access, exchange, custody, and settlement with a single regulated counterparty.
Per OSL, Circle’s involvement went beyond a technical integration. According to Jason Liu, Head of Stablecoin at OSL Group, the collaboration included strategic input on foreign exchange, custody, and cross-border payments — work that shaped StableHub’s positioning as a distribution and settlement hub rather than just another trading venue.
“OSL combines its regulated network with Circle’s USDC to give institutional and enterprise clients a single, compliant home for digital dollar liquidity,” Liu said, “reaching $200 million in USDC deposits within months.”
From institutional demand to regulated volume
StableHub’s growth curve — $200 million in USDC deposits in roughly four months — is notable for a platform whose entire value proposition rests on regulatory compliance rather than volume-at-any-cost. It suggests the demand for a licensed USDC gateway in APAC was already there, waiting for infrastructure to catch up.
For OSL clients, that means dollar liquidity accessible through one platform, with USDC embedded in payments and trading operations, plus adjacent products such as USDC-based margin for eligible clients. For OSL itself, it shifts the operational burden: rather than managing fragmented liquidity routes across counterparties, the company can consolidate USDC activity within StableHub.
Part of a wider Circle push across Asia
OSL’s StableHub milestone doesn’t stand alone. It lands alongside a string of moves by Circle to deepen regulated USDC distribution and settlement infrastructure across the region.
In Japan, Circle signed a memorandum of understanding with JCB — the country’s dominant domestic card network, with roughly 140 million cardholders and 40 million merchant locations worldwide — to explore USDC for internal fund transfers and merchant payment acceptance, as covered in JCB partners with Circle to explore USDC payments in Japan. That deal builds on JCB’s earlier domestic stablecoin work with Digital Garage and Resona Holdings, pointing to a dual-track strategy of yen-based domestic rails alongside dollar-denominated cross-border settlement.
In South Korea, Circle has been in discussions with major banks including KB Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank as the country’s Financial Services Commission moves toward a formal stablecoin legal framework, as detailed in Circle pursues stablecoin partnership with South Korean banks. That engagement reflects the same underlying dynamic seen in Hong Kong with OSL: regulated financial institutions want compliant, bank-grade access to USDC rather than offshore workarounds.
And on the payments infrastructure side, Circle’s partnership with cross-border payments platform Nium extended USDC settlement to 190+ countries and 100+ currencies through a single integration, eliminating the need for corridor-by-corridor prefunding — a development outlined in USDC goes end-to-end: Circle and Nium connect stablecoin settlement to 190 countries. Combined with the Circle Payments Network’s reported $8.3 billion in annualized transaction volume as of Q1 2026, that infrastructure gives regulated distribution partners like OSL a global settlement layer to plug into once USDC lands in a client’s account.
Taken together, the Japan card-network deal, the South Korean banking discussions, the Nium settlement corridor, and OSL’s StableHub volumes describe the same strategy executed through different channel types: cards, banks, payment infrastructure, and licensed exchanges. Circle isn’t betting on one distribution model in Asia — it’s building out several regulated entry points at once, and letting institutional demand pick the path.
Why it matters
For market participants, the significance of OSL’s $200 million figure isn’t the number itself — it’s what it signals about market structure. Institutional and corporate users in APAC increasingly don’t want additional, potentially unregulated intermediaries in their dollar liquidity chains. They want a single licensed counterparty covering trading, custody, exchange, and settlement, and they’re willing to move volume quickly once that option exists.
That’s also a signal to other regulated exchanges and payment providers across Asia: those holding licenses but not yet offering consolidated USDC access are currently ceding that demand to competitors like OSL. It also explains why an issuer like Circle is increasingly prioritizing local, licensed partners over pure offshore distribution — particularly in a region with regulatory frameworks as fragmented as APAC’s.
OSL views StableHub as a blueprint for how regulated distribution, liquidity, and settlement can be combined into a single compliant counterparty for the region’s growing digital dollar market. Its early traction — over $200 million in USDC deposits in about four months — offers a concrete proof point: in Asia-Pacific, compliant access paired with deep liquidity can convert institutional stablecoin demand into real commercial activity.
Disclosure: Circle has a commercial relationship with OSL Group. USDC is issued by regulated affiliates of Circle. Figures related to OSL and StableHub were provided by OSL Group as of August 17, 2026, and are subject to applicable limits.
Related coverage:
- JCB partners with Circle to explore USDC payments in Japan
- USDC goes end-to-end: Circle and Nium connect stablecoin settlement to 190 countries
- Circle pursues stablecoin partnership with South Korean banks
OSL is bringing compliant USDC liquidity to Asia.
By integrating USDC into StableHub, @osldotcom gives eligible clients USDC access, exchange, custody, and settlement.
Within about four months of launch, StableHub reached more than $100 million in USDC deposits.…
— Circle (@circle) August 19, 2026