WASHINGTON — Early Warning Services, the operator of the Zelle payments network, plans to launch a proprietary U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin and expand Zelle’s reach beyond the United States, beginning with international money transfers to India, according to an announcement from the company.
The new stablecoin, to be known as ZelleUSD (ZLUSD), is being developed to support future international payment capabilities and provide U.S. consumers with another option for sending money to friends and family abroad, Early Warning Services said in a June 11 announcement.
The company said additional details about the stablecoin will be released in the coming months.
As part of the same initiative, Early Warning Services said India will be the first country where U.S. consumers will be able to use Zelle to send money internationally. The company said it expects to launch that capability before the end of 2026.
First Major Move
The expansion marks the first major move into cross-border payments for Zelle, which is owned by seven of the nation’s largest financial institutions. According to Early Warning Services, Zelle has grown into a $1.2-trillion payments network in the United States.
The company said consumer demand for international digital payment options, along with financial institution interest in near-instant cross-border remittance solutions, helped drive the decision to add international capabilities.
“Zelle scaled into one of the largest, most transformative payment networks in the United States because of the value it provides to meet consumer demand for fast, innovative and reliable payments,” Early Warning Services CEO Cameron Fowler said in the announcement. “We believe international payments are at a similar inflection point, and we are expanding to meet consumer demand.”
Like Moving Money Across Town
In a separate post on LinkedIn, Fowler said the new services will allow consumers to “move money across borders as easily as they move money across town” while helping financial institutions deliver the payment experiences consumers increasingly expect.
The announcement follows a year of strong growth for the Zelle network. Early Warning Services reported in February that consumers used Zelle to send more than $1.2 trillion in payments during 2025, up 20% from 2024.
The company also reported that $357 billion of that volume involved payments to or from small businesses, representing a 26% increase from the prior year.
