Trace Finance Raises $32M to Expand Stablecoin Banking Infrastructure Across Emerging Markets

Stablecoins have become one of crypto's most successful real-world use cases. But for global businesses moving money across borders, the token itself is only part of the equation.

The bigger challenge is connecting those digital dollars to local banking systems, payment networks, compliance requirements, and foreign exchange infrastructure.

Trace Finance believes it has solved that problem.

The company announced a $32 million Series A funding round led by CoinFund, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Jump Capital, Valor Capital, Paxos, HOF Capital, and several prominent figures across the payments and blockchain industries.

The raise comes as Trace passes $10 billion in cross-border transaction volume and expands its regulated financial infrastructure beyond Brazil into additional markets across Latin America, the United States, and Asia-Pacific.

Building the Missing Layer of Stablecoin Payments

For years, stablecoins have promised faster and cheaper international payments. Yet most enterprises still face significant operational hurdles when moving funds between digital assets and traditional financial systems.

Local regulations, banking integrations, FX requirements, and compliance obligations often create bottlenecks that blockchain technology alone cannot solve.

According to Trace Finance co-founder and CEO Bernardo Brites, that is where the company has focused its efforts.

"Stablecoins alone do not solve cross-border payments. Stablecoins plus regulated local bank infrastructure does," Brites said.

"This round lets us deepen the banking, payments, and compliance infrastructure that global fintechs, exchanges, international banks and enterprises rely on to bridge digital settlement with trusted local financial systems."

Why Brazil Became the Perfect Testing Ground

Rather than launching in a simple market, Trace chose one of the most challenging.

Brazil has emerged as one of the world's largest stablecoin markets and recently introduced regulations classifying virtual asset cross-border flows as foreign exchange transactions. The shift has increasingly pushed institutional payment activity toward regulated banking providers.

For many companies, that created additional complexity.

For Trace, it created an opportunity.

The company built infrastructure capable of handling Brazil's strict compliance and FX requirements while facilitating stablecoin settlement and international payments. Today, Trace says it powers cross-border operations for some of the region's largest payment providers, including dLocal.

Having proven the model in one of the world's most demanding financial environments, the company is now taking that infrastructure global.

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Investors Bet on the Next Phase of Stablecoin Adoption

The funding round reflects growing investor conviction that stablecoins are evolving beyond crypto trading and becoming part of mainstream financial infrastructure.

"The next phase of global money movement will be won by companies that can bridge onchain settlement with trusted local banking systems," said CoinFund Partner Einar Braathen.

"Brazil is one of the largest and most operationally complex payment environments in the world, and Trace has built the regulated infrastructure that global blue-chip businesses are using to scale while saving time and costs compared to legacy alternatives."

The investor list also highlights the increasing convergence between traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure.

Alongside institutional venture firms, the round attracted support from strategic backers including Chainlink Labs and SNZ Capital, as well as notable industry leaders such as Circle co-founder Sean Neville, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Mesh CEO Bam Azizi, and Itaú Unibanco Vice Chairman Ricardo Villela Marino.

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The Race to Build Stablecoin Rails

The announcement arrives as competition intensifies around stablecoin infrastructure.

Major financial institutions, payment companies, and fintech platforms are increasingly exploring how stablecoins can improve cross-border settlement, treasury management, and international commerce.

Yet many of those initiatives face the same challenge: building compliant connections between global stablecoin liquidity and local financial systems.

Trace is positioning itself as the infrastructure provider that sits between those worlds.

The company plans to use the new capital to expand transaction capacity, deepen its banking and compliance capabilities, and launch new settlement products designed to connect emerging-market financial systems with global digital asset networks.

As stablecoins continue moving deeper into mainstream finance, the winners may not simply be the companies issuing digital dollars.

They may be the companies building the banking infrastructure that allows those dollars to move around the world.