Circle CSO urges Asian regulators to keep stablecoin markets open to all entrants

Circle‘s chief strategy officer Dante Disparte is pressing Asian regulators to design stablecoin frameworks that leave room for both incumbent banks and smaller startups to compete. Speaking from Bangkok, Disparte drew on the American and European regulatory experience to argue that the sector can sustain a diverse issuer base rather than consolidating around a handful of large financial institutions.

The appeal carries obvious commercial weight: Circle, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2025, issues USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market size. Restrictive licensing that favours established banks over new entrants would constrain the competitive environment in which Circle and similar non-bank issuers currently operate. Disparte’s remarks also included a call for cross-border regulatory harmonisation across Asian jurisdictions, a priority that would reduce fragmentation costs for any issuer seeking regional scale.

The timing places Circle’s lobbying alongside a period of active licensing activity in the region. The source references Hong Kong’s granting of its first stablecoin licences to an HSBC and Standard Chartered-led group, a move that illustrates precisely the bank-heavy dynamic Disparte appears to be pushing back against. Whether Asian regulators treat the US and European precedent as a genuinely transferable model, or view their own bank-centric financial structures as a reason for a different approach, remains the central policy question to watch.