USDC
Also called: USD Coin · Circle USDC
Definition
USDC is a US dollar stablecoin issued by Circle, designed to stay at 1 dollar and backed by cash and short-term US government securities, with monthly reserve attestations.
This entry is shown in English.
How USDC works
USDC runs on many blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon and others. Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) lets USDC move between supported chains by burning it on one chain and minting it on another, instead of creating wrapped copies.
Circle publishes monthly attestations of its reserves, which are held largely in cash and a government money market fund. Like USDT, USDC can be frozen at specific addresses. In the EU, Circle operates under MiCA authorisation, which makes USDC widely available on EU-regulated platforms.
USDC is not immune to depegs. In March 2023, it briefly traded well below 1 dollar after part of its reserves was held at Silicon Valley Bank, which failed. It returned to its peg once the deposits were secured.
Example
Suppose you want to move 3,000 USDC from Ethereum to Base. Through a bridge that uses CCTP, the 3,000 USDC is burned on Ethereum and 3,000 native USDC is minted on Base, minus network fees. If you used a bridge that issues a wrapped version, you might receive a token that some Base apps treat as a different asset. During the 2023 depeg, if USDC briefly traded at 0.90 dollars, those 3,000 USDC would have been priced at about 2,700 dollars on the market.
Common mistakes
- Assuming bridged USDC and native USDC on the same chain are always interchangeable.
- Believing USDC cannot depeg because it is regulated.
- Sending USDC on a network the receiving exchange does not list for USDC deposits.
Learn and practise
FAQ
Is USDC safer than USDT?
They have different risk profiles. USDC publishes monthly attestations and is authorised under MiCA, while USDT has larger liquidity on many exchanges. Both carry issuer and freeze risk.
Who issues USDC?
Circle issues USDC and manages its reserves.