Key Highlights
- Interactive Brokers now allows clients to fund accounts using USDC, automatically converted to USD on deposit.
- Stablecoin deposits can be made 24/7 via Ethereum, Solana, or Base, bypassing traditional bank transfer delays.
- Support for other stablecoins, including Ripple’s RLUSD and PayPal’s PYUSD, is expected soon.
Interactive Brokers, a US-based electronic brokerage firm, has begun allowing clients to fund their brokerage accounts using stablecoins, thereby blending traditional finance and blockchain-based payments.
The company confirmed that customers can now deposit USDC, which is automatically converted into US dollars and credited to their trading accounts.
Since the stablecoins are converted on arrival, clients do not hold USDC inside the brokerage. Instead, the tokens function purely as a transfer rail, allowing users to move dollar value onto the platform without treating stablecoins as an investment product.
The brokerage is offering the service through a partnership with crypto infrastructure firm zerohash. Clients can send USDC over the Ethereum, Solana, or Base blockchains at any time, including weekends and holidays, removing dependence on traditional wire transfers that only work during banking hours.
Interactive Brokers said this is aimed especially at international clients, who often face delays, extra fees, and multiple intermediaries when moving money across borders.
The company also confirmed that support for other stablecoins, including Ripple’s RLUSD and PayPal’s PYUSD, is planned. The new stablecoins will expand the options available for funding accounts.
Following months of preparation
The move follows months of signals that Interactive Brokers was preparing for stablecoin integration.
In mid-2025, Founder and Chairman Thomas Peterffy said the firm was studying whether a dollar-backed token could support 24/7 funding, while remaining cautious about crypto trading even as client demand for faster and more flexible transfers continued to rise.
Additionally, at the start of April 2025, Interactive Brokers expanded its crypto trading lineup by adding Chainlink, Avalanche, and Sui. These joined existing tokens, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin, highlighting the broker’s efforts to grow its digital asset services.
Instead of creating its own stablecoin, Interactive Brokers chose to work with existing issuers, focusing on compliance, credibility, and secure settlement.
Stablecoins see rapid growth in 2025
The decision comes as stablecoins continue to gain ground in global finance. In the past year alone, their combined market value has risen sharply, as banks, fintech players, and trading platforms began testing them for everything from payments to treasury management and even cross-border settlement.
What were once mainly crypto-native tools began to gain wider attention as digital representations of the US dollar that could move quickly across blockchain networks.
That momentum pushed the stablecoin market past $300 billion in total value for the first time in October 2025, reflecting year-to-date growth of about 46.8%, driven largely by Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC, and Ethena Labs’ yield-bearing USDe. By the end of the year, the overall stablecoin market had climbed above $310 billion, according to data from DeFi analytics platform DeFiLlama.
In allowing for stablecoin funding, Interactive Brokers is positioning blockchain networks as an alternate payment rail to, not instead of, the traditional banking system for its users.
Also Read: BVNK Partners with Visa to Power Stablecoin Payments
