Retail Payments

Single-Chain USDC Transfer

The simplest stablecoin payment — USDC from one wallet to another on a single chain.

Vendors

Circle · Wallet Providers

Compliance Center

Wallet KYC at Identity

R1 — Single-chain USDC payment · Rails: retail · Protocols: 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, payment instruction ready.

Self-custody smart account on Base. The simplest possible path: payer initiates a single-chain USDC transfer. L4 Account (balance, signing keys) and L5 Application (wallet UX, consent) are lit above the enforcement line.

⚠ 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

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

L4 ACCOUNTBalances, addresses, signing keysCore banking ledger / DDA

Step 2 · Payee Wallet (Base)Code-EnforcedBlockchain-Native

The beneficiary's credit-to-account — funds arrive and the payment is final.

USDC arrives at the payee's wallet on Base in a single ERC-20 transfer. Same two-layer silhouette as Step 1 — L4 Account and L5 Application lit, above the enforcement line. The entire path executes in a single block.

⚠ 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: Payee wallet (smart account or EOA)
Latency: ~2s · single Base block
Finality: Final on Base block confirmation
Vendors: Coinbase Smart Wallet · ERC-4337 Smart Account · Coinbase Paymaster

Resolved 2 steps across 1 chain(s). 3 threshold(s) triggered. Frameworks: Bank Secrecy Act, GENIUS Act, OFAC Sanctions Program, FATF Recommendation 16 (Travel Rule), Common Reporting Standard / FATCA.

Ethereum Address

Chainalysis

Other Retail Payments Paths

R2 Cross-Chain CCTP Transfer Circle · CCTP

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

← All Retail Payments Paths

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