USDC is a

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

stablecoin A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency where the value of the digital asset is supposed to be pegged to a reference asset, which is either fiat money, exchange-traded commodities (such as precious metals or industrial metals), or another cry ...

which is issued by

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

. It is pegged to the

United States dollar The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

, and is distinct from a

central bank digital currency A central bank digital currency (CBDC; also called digital fiat currency or digital base money) is a digital currency issued by a central bank, rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the central bank, unless it is dividend-y ...

(CBDC).

Usage

USDC operates as an Ethereum ERC-20 token and is also available on several other blockchain platforms such as Base and Polygon. 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.

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". As of 2020, USDC reserves were regularly attested (but not

audited An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing al ...

) by Grant Thornton, LLP, and as of 2021, the monthly attestations could be found on the Centre Consortium's website. In December 2024, ''Forbes'' reported that USDC had $41 billion in

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

History

announced USDC on May 15, 2018, and it was subsequently launched in September of the same year by Centre, a consortium formed through a joint venture between

and

Coinbase Coinbase Global, Inc. is an American cryptocurrency exchange. It was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. Coinbase has over 100 million users, and is the largest U.S. based cryptocurrency exchange as well as the world's bigge ...

. On March 29, 2021,

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

announced its support for USDC, enabling the cryptocurrency to be used for settling transactions within its payment network. In July 2022, Circle reported that the circulation of USDC had reached $55 billion. 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 On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed after a bank run, marking the third-largest bank failure in United States history and the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. It was one of three bank failures, along with Silvergate ...

the day before. USDC regained its dollar peg four days later. 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. 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. According to ''Forbes'' in December 2024, USDC primarily competes with

Tether A tether is a cord, fixture, or flexible attachment that characteristically anchors something movable to something fixed; it also may be used to connect two movable objects, such as an item being towed by its tow. Applications for tethers incl ...

, which dominates the market by

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

. USDC and Tether nearly reached parity in 2022, but USDC declined coinciding with the

Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed after a bank run, marking the third-largest bank failure in United States history and the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. It was one of three bank failures, along with Silvergate ...

, where Circle held reserves. According to data compiled by

, USDC overtook Tether in stablecoin transaction volume in August 2024. On June 5, 2025 Circle was listed on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Stablecoins Ethereum tokens 2018 establishments Currencies introduced in 2018 Cryptocurrency projects

Usage

Assets and reserves

History

See also

References

External links