How to convert USDC to USD and send it to a bank account

The short answer

Fund your Align balance with USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism or Avalanche, then pay out in dollars. The USDC is converted as part of the payment. Fedwire and ACH reach US bank accounts, SWIFT reaches dollar accounts at banks in other countries, and the payee can be your own company or a supplier.

At a glance

Step by step

1. Ask for US payout rails. Request ACH and wire access when you open the account. Align's US banking partner reviews your company after Align's KYB, and it can decline or set limits.
2. Send native USDC to your balance. Pick a network Align accepts, use the matching deposit address and test with a small amount. On Arbitrum, Polygon and Optimism, check that you hold Circle's native USDC rather than bridged USDC.e, and confirm with Align which contract it accepts.
3. Pick the rail. Fedwire for a large or time-critical payment that must be final today, ACH for routine US payments, SWIFT for a dollar account outside the US. The ACH, Fedwire and FedNow guide compares the US options.
4. Enter the details exactly. The account holder's legal name, routing number and account number for Fedwire or ACH; the BIC, account number and the recipient's full address for SWIFT.
5. Pay. The USDC is converted as part of the payout. A supplier payment goes through your named virtual account, and Align may ask for the invoice behind it, so have the PDF ready.

What backs USDC

Circle's USDC page showed 71.9 billion USDC in circulation on 19 October 2026. In the US, the issuer is Circle Internet Financial, LLC. Circle discloses the reserve weekly and publishes monthly attestations by a Big Four accounting firm; in October 2026 the latest report on its transparency page covered August 2026. Most of the reserve is in the Circle Reserve Fund, a government money market fund registered with the SEC and managed by BlackRock. The rest is cash, mostly at a handful of large banks.

Circle Mint redeems USDC 1:1 for dollars for institutional customers; it isn't open to individuals. If your company has a Circle Mint account and wants dollars only in its own bank, that's the direct route. Circle received final OCC approval for a national trust bank in July 2026, starting with custody, ahead of the GENIUS Act, which is expected to take effect on 18 January 2027. In the EU, USDC is authorized under MiCA: see USDC to EUR.

Native USDC and USDC.e

On Arbitrum, Polygon PoS and OP Mainnet, two tokens carry the USDC name. Circle calls native USDC "always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars" and says the bridged version, with the symbol USDC.e, "is not issued by Circle". Before native USDC launched on Polygon PoS on 10 October 2023, Circle said its accounts would accept USDC.e for 30 days only, and that USDC.e sent after that "may not be recoverable". Ask your counterparty which token contract they will send, and confirm with Align that it accepts that contract.

Fedwire in practice

Fedwire runs from 9:00 p.m. ET the evening before to 7:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday except Federal Reserve holidays, with a 6:45 p.m. ET deadline for customer transfers. Payments are "immediate, final, and irrevocable once processed", the Federal Reserve says. Fedwire moved to the ISO 20022 message format on 14 July 2025, and on 9 October 2025 the Federal Reserve Board said it will add Sundays and weekday holidays, no earlier than 2028.

Finality cuts both ways. Under UCC Article 4A, when a wire's name and account number point to different people, the beneficiary's bank may rely on the number, unless it knows they differ, and has no duty to check the name. Confirm the routing and account numbers with the supplier, on a phone number you already hold, before the first payment.

For a dollar account outside the US, SWIFT is the rail. The OUR, SHA and BEN guide explains who pays the fees, and tracking a SWIFT payment explains where delays happen.

How this works with Align

Align provides named USD accounts in your company's name: a US account number and routing number through its US banking partner, so US customers can pay you by ACH or wire, plus a named account for SWIFT. Money you receive lands in your balance as USDC or USDT, and you pay out in USD, EUR or GBP from the same balance. Align Payments Ltd. is a FINTRAC-registered money services business in Canada; regulated services are provided through licensed banking partners. Align doesn't issue stablecoins.

Sources

• Align docs, Blockchains and stablecoins and 1st party and 3rd party payments
• Circle, USDC (19 October 2026), Transparency and Circle Mint
• Circle, USDC on Arbitrum (June 2023), Native USDC on OP Mainnet (August 2023) and Native USDC on Polygon PoS (September 2023)
• European Banking Authority, USDC classified as a significant e-money token (October 2026)
• Business Wire, Circle receives final OCC approval for national trust bank (July 2026)
• GovInfo, GENIUS Act text (July 2025)
• Federal Reserve, About the Fedwire Funds Service and Expanded operating days for Fedwire Funds and NSS (October 2025)
• Federal Reserve Financial Services, Fedwire operating hours and Intent to expand Fedwire operating days (October 2025)
• PYMNTS, Fedwire completes ISO 20022 implementation (July 2025)
• Federal Reserve Financial Services, FedACH processing schedule
• Cornell Law School, UCC 4A-207, misdescription of beneficiary
• Chase, How to wire money
• Swift, How long does a Swift payment take? and Swift accepts community request to extend structured address migration (27 August 2026, updated 21 September 2026)
• Freshfields, Treasury proposes GENIUS Act gatekeeping rules (August 2026)