USDC

USDC, or USD Coin, is a centralized stablecoin designed to maintain a 1:1 value with the U.S. dollar. It is issued by Centre, a consortium founded by Circle and Coinbase, with governance and oversight provided by Centre. Launched in 2018, USDC is intended to offer a digital dollar that can be used for on-chain payments, remittances, trading, and decentralized finance.

USDC is described as fully backed by reserves intended to mirror the amount of USDC in circulation. The reserves are stated to include cash and short-duration U.S. Treasuries and other high-quality assets. Circle and Centre publish attestations from independent firms to verify reserve levels, and reserve holdings are held by regulated financial institutions. The exact composition of reserves can vary over time, but the aim is to ensure redemptions 1:1 for USD.

The token is issued on multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum (as an ERC-20 token), Solana (SPL), Algorand (ASA), Stellar, and Tron (TRC-20), among others. USDC can be minted by sending U.S. dollars to the issuer and redeemed for dollars on demand, with transfers facilitated by the underlying blockchain protocols. Its multi-network presence has contributed to broad adoption across exchanges, wallets, and DeFi platforms.

In practice, USDC is used for payments, cross-border transfers, liquidity provisioning, trading, and other on-chain activities. It is subject to regulation as a financial product in various jurisdictions, and the issuer complies with applicable anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer requirements. As with all stablecoins, USDC carries issuer-related risk and regulatory risk, even as it aims to provide price stability and ease of use in blockchain-based finance.