Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
QCAD Goes Live on Arc With 24/7 Onchain Settlement
September 17, 2026 | NCFA Market Activity | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Payments Infrastructure And Money Movement, Cross Border Payments And FX, Regulation And Policy
Canadian Dollar Stablecoin Adds Live QCAD and USDC Settlement
On September 16, 2026, Stablecorp announced that QCAD is live on Arc, moving a Canadian dollar stablecoin that Stablecorp previously tested with Circle's StableFX infrastructure into production. Arc is Circle's blockchain for financial markets, while StableFX provides an institutional foreign exchange layer where supported stablecoins can trade and settle onchain.
For Canadian fintechs, payment companies and treasury teams, QCAD now provides a Canadian dollar route into that infrastructure. Once Canadian dollars are represented as QCAD, eligible institutions can transfer the value on Arc and exchange QCAD against USDC through StableFX without waiting for a conventional foreign exchange desk to open. Circle lists QCAD among the local stablecoins supported by StableFX, with USDC providing access to a much larger pool of digital U.S. dollar liquidity.
QCAD Digital Trust issues the token, while Stablecorp Digital Currencies acts as administrator and servicer. Stablecorp says each QCAD is backed one for one by Canadian dollar reserves held at regulated financial institutions, with daily reserve reporting and independent monthly attestations. The product currently targets institutional users rather than direct retail distribution.
What Actually Runs Around the Clock
StableFX combines a request for quote process with payment versus payment settlement on Arc. An institution requests an exchange rate, accepts a quote and funds its side of the trade. The counterparty funds the other side, and the smart contract completes settlement when both obligations are ready. Either both sides settle or neither does, reducing the risk that one party delivers funds while the other does not.
Circle says this onchain settlement layer operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including weekends and holidays. Settlement can occur near instantly once both sides are funded, although timing still depends on network conditions and counterparties being ready to complete the trade.
Circle provides the StableFX infrastructure and access to USDC liquidity, while Stablecorp controls QCAD minting and redemption through its own banking and authorized participant arrangements. Getting Canadian dollars into QCAD or redeeming QCAD back into a bank account can therefore depend on those institutions even when QCAD and USDC can continue settling onchain.
A business shouldn't read 24/7 settlement as 24/7 access to every Canadian bank account. The continuous part begins once value is already represented as QCAD or another supported stablecoin. A payment company holding USDC could exchange into QCAD when it needs Canadian dollar liquidity, while a treasury team holding QCAD could settle into USDC outside normal foreign exchange hours without requiring a conventional correspondent bank for that onchain exchange.
See: Are Stablecoins Becoming Payment Infrastructure?
Those capabilities can reduce some settlement delays and the need to maintain separate foreign exchange relationships for every currency pair. They don't remove banking, custody, compliance or redemption requirements. The commercial benefit depends on how much of a company's payment or treasury workflow can remain in tokenized form before money needs to return to a conventional bank account.
QCAD Enters a More Regulated Canadian Market
QCAD operates today under Canada's existing regulatory structure rather than the new federal stablecoin rules that are still being implemented. QCAD Digital Trust has an approved prospectus under the Canadian Securities Administrators' interim framework for value referenced crypto assets. Stablecorp Digital Currencies is also registered with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or FINTRAC, as a money services business.
Canada has enacted the Stablecoin Act, but its main operating requirements aren't yet in force. The federal government expects the framework to take effect in 2027 after supporting regulations are completed. Under the new system, nonbank issuers of fiat backed stablecoins will register with and be supervised by the Bank of Canada, maintain reserves equal to at least the value of stablecoins issued, provide redemption at par and meet governance, risk, data security and disclosure requirements.
The Canadian stablecoin framework also operates alongside payments rules, anti money laundering requirements and securities regulation. QCAD's presence on Arc therefore changes where Canadian dollar digital value can settle, but it doesn't remove the issuer, custody, payments and financial crime obligations around the product.
Canada is also developing digital money inside banks. On September 10, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions clarified that tokenized bank deposits remain deposits in law even when technology changes how the deposit is represented or transferred. QCAD connects Canadian dollar value to public blockchain settlement through a separately backed token, while a tokenized deposit remains a liability of the bank. Both can support digital settlement through different legal and operational structures.
TD is already involved across several of these models. Stablecorp selected TD in July to become a primary custodian of QCAD reserve assets, while TD is also involved with tokenized deposits and has joined the 21 institution stablecoin venture with Scotiabank that targets a U.S. dollar product in 2027. The products aren't direct competitors today, but their development shows that Canadian financial institutions are testing several ways to connect deposits, stablecoins and blockchain settlement.
Liquidity and Usage Will Decide Whether QCAD Scales
USDC gives QCAD a useful liquidity route because institutions can exchange between the two without needing a separate market for every currency pair.
For example, an eligible Canadian payment company that already holds USDC could exchange some of it for QCAD through StableFX when it needs Canadian dollar digital value for local settlement. If it later needs Canadian dollars in a bank account, it would still use Stablecorp's redemption and banking arrangements.
For QCAD to become widely used, businesses need reliable ways to buy it, redeem it at par, hold it securely and connect it to the payment and treasury systems they already use. QCAD now has the technical route into Arc and StableFX.
Talking Point
QCAD now connects Canadian dollar digital value to global stablecoin liquidity while banks develop tokenized deposits and new stablecoin structures of their own. If several forms of digital Canadian dollar value can coexist, which model will make liquidity, redemption and distribution easiest enough for businesses to use every day?
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