USDC Gateway is a Fireblocks integration with Circle Gateway that gives your vault a single, unified USDC balance you can withdraw to any supported chain on demand, without pre-funding each chain individually.
Beta feature: USDC Gateway is currently in beta and available through the Fireblocks API and Console. Behavior, endpoints, and limits may change. To request access, go to Labs, or contact your Customer Success Manager.
What is USDC Gateway?
USDC Gateway connects your Fireblocks vault to Circle's cross-chain USDC infrastructure. Deposit USDC from any supported chain into a single consolidated balance, then withdraw to any Gateway-supported blockchain, regardless of where the funds originated. Fireblocks orchestrates the deposit, signing, and withdrawal flows end to end.
Each vault account gets its own Gateway wallet. Deposits and withdrawals are standard Fireblocks transactions; they appear in your Transactions list, follow your Policy rules, trigger AML screening, and fire webhooks just like any other transfer. When you initiate a withdrawal, Fireblocks automatically selects which chain or chains to draw from to cover the amount while minimizing fees, based on your per-chain balances.
When to use USDC Gateway
- Just-in-time liquidity. Keep one consolidated USDC balance and move funds to a specific chain only when a settlement, payout, or trade requires it.
- Chain-agnostic payouts. Accept the destination chain as a parameter at withdrawal time instead of holding USDC on every chain in advance.
- Reduce idle balances. Avoid splitting working capital across many chain-specific wallets.
Activation
Activation links a vault account to a USDC Gateway wallet. It's a configuration operation only; no funds move and no blockchain interaction occurs. Each wallet is scoped to the network type of your workspace (mainnet or testnet) and can be deactivated at any time. Deactivation blocks new deposits and withdrawals but does not affect any balance already held in Circle Gateway. Both operations are available via the API and the Console.
Deposit automation
The Deposit automation feature manages your USDC deposits to the Gateway, so you can focus on chain-agnostic withdrawals, drawing directly from your unified Gateway balance to a blockchain of your choice.
When activating a Gateway wallet for a vault account, you can optionally enable the USDC deposit automation feature so that eligible deposit transactions are initiated automatically going forward, without requiring a manual trigger each time. If automation isn't enabled, deposits are initiated manually, either via the Console or the API.
Automated deposits are triggered by a balance threshold, which you configure explicitly per vault account. A scheduler checks the vault's balance every 60 minutes by default; once the balance reaches your configured threshold, a deposit into the Gateway wallet is initiated automatically. The scheduler interval can be lowered via the API.
When automation is enabled, deposit transactions are initiated by a dedicated service user called USDC Gateway Depositor. This initiator can only initiate transactions, but not sign them, so a designated signer is still required. Enabling the feature also requires a corresponding Policy rule; for the exact rule configuration, see Setting up policy rules for USDC Gateway.
Deposit
A deposit moves USDC from a vault account on a specific chain into your unified Gateway balance. Deposits can be initiated via the Console from the USDC Gateway virtual asset wallet, or via the API. For API instructions, see how to deposit via the API.
Contract approval
The first time a deposit is initiated from a vault address on a given chain, Fireblocks automatically submits a contract call transaction to approve the Gateway smart contract to operate on that address. This approval transaction appears as a separate entry in your Transactions list. Once approved, subsequent deposits on the same chain proceed without an additional approval step.
Balance
Your Gateway balance is a single unified USDC balance held across Circle Gateway's smart contracts on all supported chains. Use the Get Gateway wallet info API to retrieve your total balance and a per-chain breakdown showing how funds are distributed.
Withdrawal
A withdrawal delivers USDC from your unified Gateway balance to any destination. Withdrawals can be initiated via the Console from the USDC Gateway virtual asset wallet, or via the API. For API instructions, see how to withdraw via the API. You specify only the destination chain and amount, and Fireblocks automatically selects which chain to draw from based on your current Gateway balance.
For fee details, see USDC Gateway: Prerequisites and setup guide.
Archive
At any point, you can archive a Gateway wallet and withdraw all remaining funds to any destination. This can be done either via the API or from the Console. If deposit automation is enabled, archiving stops it immediately, and no further automated deposits are initiated.
Archiving does not move funds on its own. If a Gateway wallet is archived while still holding a balance, that balance remains safely held in Circle Gateway, and archiving is fully reversible: reactivating the Gateway for the same vault account restores access to those funds.
Note: the rest of the article (What is USDC Gateway, When to use, Deposit, Contract approval, Balance, Withdrawal) is unchanged — only the two additions above are needed.