USDC (cryptocurrency)

Last updated

USDC
Denominations
CodeUSDC
Development
White paper USDC White Paper at the Wayback Machine (archived 2024-12-03)
Initial releaseSeptember 2018
Developer Circle
Website
Website usdc.com

USDC is a cryptocurrency stablecoin which is issued by Circle. It is pegged to the United States dollar, and is distinct from a central bank digital currency (CBDC). [1]

Contents

Usage

USDC operates as an Ethereum ERC-20 token and is also available on several other blockchain platforms such as Base and Polygon. [2] [3] Visa initiated a pilot program in 2023 to send USDC via the Solana blockchain to payment firms Worldpay and Nuvei, who could then transfer payment to merchants. [4]

Assets and reserves

Until mid-2021, Circle stated that each USDC was backed by either one U.S. dollar in reserve or by other "approved investments", though the specifics of these investments were not disclosed. In June 2021, Circle updated its website wording from "backed by US dollars" to "backed by fully reserved assets". [5]

As of 2020, USDC reserves were regularly attested (but not audited) by Grant Thornton, LLP, [6] and as of 2021, the monthly attestations could be found on the Centre Consortium's website. [7]

In December 2024, Forbes reported that USDC had $41 billion in assets under management. [8]

History

Circle announced USDC on May 15, 2018, [6] and it was subsequently launched in September of the same year by Centre, a consortium formed through a joint venture between Circle and Coinbase. [9]

On March 29, 2021, Visa announced its support for USDC, enabling the cryptocurrency to be used for settling transactions within its payment network. [10]

In July 2022, Circle reported that the circulation of USDC had reached $55 billion. [11]

On March 11, 2023, USDC temporarily lost its peg to the US dollar after Circle revealed that $3.3 billion dollars, about 8% of its reserves, were jeopardized due to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank the day before. [12] USDC regained its dollar peg four days later. [13]

In August 2023, Circle and Coinbase dissolved the Centre Consortium, the entity responsible for managing USDC since 2018. This decision granted Circle full governance over USDC. [14]

In February 2024, Circle discontinued USDC on the TRON blockchain following a risk management review. Although the minting of new USDC tokens halted on 21 February 2024, customers had until February 2025 to transfer USDC to other blockchains. [15]

According to Forbes in December 2024, USDC primarily competes with Tether, which dominates the market by market capitalization. USDC and Tether nearly reached parity in 2022, but USDC declined coinciding with the Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, where Circle held reserves. [8] [16] According to data compiled by Visa, USDC overtook Tether in stablecoin transaction volume in August 2024. [17]

On June 5, 2025 Circle was listed on the NYSE via an initial public offering. [18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arnold, Martin (May 15, 2018). "China bitcoin miner Bitmain leads $110m investment in Circle". Financial Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Centre | USD Coin". www.centre.io. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  3. ↑ "USDC to be available on 15 blockchains after adding 6—including Base, Optimism, and Polygon PoS—over next 2 months". Fortune . Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Visa to send stablecoin USDC over Solana to help pay merchants in crypto". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  5. ↑ Venkataramakrishnan, Siddharth (July 9, 2021). "Circle listing will test top stablecoin's transparency over reserves". Financial Times.
  6. 1 2 Irrera, Anna (May 16, 2018). "Circle raises $110 million, plans to create dollar-pegged cryptocurrency". Reuters. Archived from the original on June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  7. ↑ Centre. "Centre | USD Coin". www.centre.io. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  8. 1 2 Bambysheva, Nena (December 11, 2024). "Circle And Binance Become A Stablecoin Power Couple". Forbes. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  9. ↑ Rooney, Kate (October 23, 2018). "Cryptocurrency giants Coinbase and Circle form joint venture to boost adoption of dollar-backed digital coins". CNBC. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  10. ↑ Hussain, Noor Zainab (March 29, 2021). "Exclusive: Visa moves to allow payment settlements using cryptocurrency". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  11. ↑ "A Letter from our CEO | Circle's Strength, Stability & Transparency".
  12. ↑ Ge Huang, Vicky; Miao, Hannah; Ostroff, Caitlin (March 11, 2023). "Circle's USDC Stablecoin Breaks Peg With $3.3 Billion Stuck at Silicon Valley Bank". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. ↑ "US Bank Crisis Prompts Stablecoin Backer's Flight to Big Lenders". Bloomberg.com. March 16, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  14. ↑ "USDC to be available on 15 blockchains after adding 6—including Base, Optimism, and Polygon PoS—over next 2 months". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  15. ↑ Wilson, Tom (February 21, 2024). "Crypto firm Circle to end support for USDC stablecoin on Tron blockchain". Reuters. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  16. ↑ Schwartz, Leo (March 10, 2023). "Circle reveals it has $3.3 billion stuck at Silicon Valley Bank as USDC wobbles against its peg". Fortune. Retrieved January 3, 2025– via Yahoo Finance.
  17. ↑ Shukla, Sidhartha (April 29, 2024). "Circle's USDC Takes Lead in Stablecoin Transactions, Visa Says". Bloomberg.
  18. ↑ Suderman, Alan (June 5, 2025). "Stablecoin bigwig Circle soars in debut on the New York Stock Exchange". Associated Press.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.