Retail Payments

Cross-Chain CCTP Transfer

USDC transfer across chains via Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol — burn on source, mint on destination.

Vendors

Circle · CCTP

Compliance Center

Burn-mint bridge compliance at Transport

R2 — Cross-chain CCTP transfer · Rails: retail · Protocols: CCTP, ERC-20 transfer · Origin: United States — Federal
CTR (USD 10,000+)TRAVEL-RULE (USD 3,000+)ENHANCED-DUE-DILIGENCE (USD 50,000+)

L5 APPLICATIONWallet UX, consent, policy engineBank customer channel / issuer app

L4 ACCOUNTBalances, addresses, signing keysCore banking ledger / DDA

Step 1 · Payer Wallet (Base)Policy-EnforcedBlockchain-Native

The payer's bank app — identity verified, balance confirmed, cross-border payment instruction ready.

Self-custody wallet on Base. The payer initiates a cross-chain USDC transfer to an Ethereum address. L4 Account and L5 Application lit — same starting silhouette as R1 (single-chain), but the destination is on another chain.

⚠ ENHANCED-DUE-DILIGENCE triggered at USD 50,000 — 31 CFR § 1010.312 — Enhanced Due Diligence (United States — Federal)

Counterparty: Self (payer holds keys)
Latency: Instant · no on-chain tx yet
Finality: N/A — payment not yet submitted
Vendors: Coinbase Smart Wallet · ERC-4337 Smart Account · Coinbase Paymaster

L3 EXECUTIONSmart contracts, swap / bridge logicClearing & matching engine

◆ Enforcement Line — code-enforced below, policy-enforced above

Step 2 · Sanctions ScreeningCode-EnforcedBlockchain-Native

The sanctions-screening leg before a cross-border wire — the payment halts until the list check returns.

OFAC oracle fires at L3 Execution on Base. Both source and destination addresses are screened. The path halts until the oracle returns pass. Cross-chain transfers get extra scrutiny because the destination chain may have different compliance tooling.

Active Compliance Checkpoints

C2 OFAC SDN/SSI list screening — OFAC 50 USC § 1702 (United States — Federal) · GENIUS §6

Counterparty: Chainalysis OFAC oracle (on-chain read)
Latency: <1s · atomic with burn tx
Finality: Pre-condition gate — blocks the burn
Vendors: Chainalysis OFAC Oracle · Uniswap v4

L3 EXECUTIONSmart contracts, swap / bridge logicClearing & matching engine

L2 CONSENSUSValidator ordering, block productionRTGS settlement engine

L1 NETWORKP2P, finality, data availabilityMessaging rail (SWIFT / Fedwire)

◆ Enforcement Line — code-enforced below, policy-enforced above

Step 3 · CCTP Burn (Base)Code-EnforcedBlockchain-Native

The debit leg of a correspondent banking hop — value leaves the source ledger and a burn receipt is produced for the destination to honor.

Native USDC is burned on Base. The CCTP contract destroys tokens and emits a burn event. L1+L2+L3 lit — the full stack below the enforcement line processes the destruction. Circle's attestation service observes the burn and prepares a signed attestation for the destination chain.

Counterparty: Circle CCTP burn contract (Base)
Latency: ~2s · single Base block
Finality: Burn final on Base; attestation pending
Vendors: Ethereum (via OP Stack) · Coinbase Sequencer · Uniswap v4 · Chainalysis OFAC Oracle

—— Chain Boundary · Base → Ethereum · CCTP attestation ——

L3 EXECUTIONSmart contracts, swap / bridge logicClearing & matching engine

L2 CONSENSUSValidator ordering, block productionRTGS settlement engine

L1 NETWORKP2P, finality, data availabilityMessaging rail (SWIFT / Fedwire)

◆ Enforcement Line — code-enforced below, policy-enforced above

Step 4 · CCTP Mint (Ethereum)Code-EnforcedBlockchain-Native

The credit leg of the correspondent hop — value is reconstituted on the destination ledger against the burn attestation.

Against Circle's signed attestation, native USDC is minted on Ethereum. Same three-layer silhouette as Step 3 but on a different chain. The CCTP bridge is native — no wrapped tokens, no liquidity pools, no third-party risk. Circle is the sole trust assumption.

⚠ CTR triggered at USD 10,000 — 31 CFR § 1010.311 — Currency Transaction Report (United States — Federal)

⚠ TRAVEL-RULE triggered at USD 3,000 — 31 CFR § 1010.410(f) — Funds Transfer Recordkeeping (United States — Federal)

Counterparty: Circle CCTP mint contract + attestation service
Latency: ~8-15 min (Base finality + attestation)
Finality: Final on Ethereum block confirmation
Vendors: Circle CCTP v2 · Ethereum P2P + EIP-4844 · Ethereum PoS Validators · Uniswap v4 · Chainalysis OFAC Oracle

L5 APPLICATIONWallet UX, consent, policy engineBank customer channel / issuer app

L4 ACCOUNTBalances, addresses, signing keysCore banking ledger / DDA

Step 5 · Payee Wallet (Ethereum)Policy-EnforcedBlockchain-Native

The beneficiary's credit-to-account — funds arrive on the destination chain and the cross-chain payment is complete.

USDC arrives at the payee's wallet on Ethereum. L4 Account and L5 Application lit on the destination chain — same silhouette as the origin in Step 1, but on Ethereum instead of Base. The cross-chain transfer is complete. Recordkeeping obligations attach.

Counterparty: Payee wallet on Ethereum
Latency: Instant on mint confirmation
Finality: Final · irrevocable on Ethereum
Vendors: MetaMask / Fireblocks · EOA / ERC-4337

Resolved 5 steps across 2 chain(s). 3 threshold(s) triggered. Frameworks: Bank Secrecy Act, GENIUS Act, OFAC Sanctions Program, FATF Recommendation 16 (Travel Rule), Common Reporting Standard / FATCA.

Other Retail Payments Paths

R1 Single-Chain USDC Transfer Circle · Wallet Providers

R3 Visa+Stablecoin Card Payment Visa · Coinbase Card

R4 P2P Wallet Transfer Self-Custodial Wallets

R5 Cross-Border Remittance Stellar · MoneyGram

R6 Merchant POS Stablecoin Accept Coinbase Commerce · BitPay

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