Stablecore, Circuit, and Curql have launched a pilot program that gives participating US credit unions access to test stablecoin payments and other digital asset services. The group includes credit unions managing $25 billion in combined assets.
The three firms are positioning the program as infrastructure for credit unions to experiment with blockchain-based payments without requiring a full regulatory overhaul of their existing operations. Credit unions operate under a different regulatory framework than banks—they answer to the National Credit Union Administration rather than the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—which shapes how they can legally experiment with crypto products.
For credit unions, the appeal is straightforward: stablecoin rails offer faster settlement than traditional ACH transfers and wire systems, and they sidestep some of the intermediaries that add cost to cross-border flows. The pilot lets them run this infrastructure in a controlled environment before committing capital or customer-facing products.
Circuit and Curql handle custody and settlement mechanics, while Stablecore focuses on connecting the technical stack. The arrangement lets credit unions test how stablecoin rails integrate with their existing deposit and lending operations—and critically, whether their members actually want to use them.
This is not the first time credit unions have tested digital assets. Several have offered Bitcoin and Ethereum buying services over the past two years, though adoption among their membership has remained modest. The stablecoin angle is different because it targets payment flows rather than speculation, and payment infrastructure tends to carry lower reputational risk for conservative institutions.
What matters now is whether the pilot surfaces genuine demand or whether it confirms that credit union members prefer the friction they already know. The $25 billion figure covers only the participating institutions, not the entire credit union sector, so the pilot remains niche for now.