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USDC
USD Coin

Crypto that’s held to a higher standard

USDC is a faster, safer, and more efficient way to send, spend, and exchange money around the globe. USDC powers apps to provide anytime access to payments and financial services.
How to Get USDC Trust & Transparency

Upload your dollars

USDC is a digital dollar, also known as a stablecoin, that’s available 24/7 and moves at internet speed. USDC lives natively on the internet, running on many of the world’s most advanced blockchains. Billions of USDC change hands every day1, and every digital dollar of USDC can always be exchanged 1:1 for cash.
banks

Always on. Always open.

USDC transcends borders and banking hours. As a digital dollar with global reach, USDC can be available whenever and wherever you need it. It’s easy to send USDC around the world, pay for goods and services, or save for the future. Anyone with an internet connection can send, receive, and save USDC.

speed

Instant cash flow. All day. Every day.

No more waiting to finalize a transaction and withdraw cash. USDC makes the concept of settlement times obsolete with payments that can circle the globe and land in your account as fast as email. Imagine FX trades of any size that can take seconds to complete – that’s the power of USDC.

Fiat

Dollars that make cents

It shouldn’t cost money to use money. Say goodbye to paying $50 to send a wire transfer – say hello to a fraction of a cent. Merchants can avoid incurring 2.9% fees on credit card payments, benefit from instant cash flow, and pass back savings to customers.

fiat-to-digital

Finance reimagined

USDC takes the abilities of cash to the next level. Unlock opportunities in crypto capital markets for trading, lending, borrowing, and fundraising with USDC – accessible globally. The possibilities are just beginning.

Developers

An open money platform

Build your product with an uber-money API that’s global, open-source, interoperable and free to use. Developers trust USDC as a core building block for their apps to deliver real-time payments, trading, and financial services to their users. Dream big with USDC.

USDC is transforming finance

USDC is part of a global ecosystem that spans traditional and crypto commerce. Created by Circle, a regulated fintech, USDC is a trusted, widely accepted, and highly liquid digital dollar. It’s crypto that’s held to a higher standard.

$48.6B

in circulation today
as of September 30, 2022

1.5M

# of holders
as of September 23rd, 2022 via Etherscan

$4.15B

24 hr trading volume
as of September 30, 2022 via CoinGecko

6.23T

Total on-chain transactions
as of September 23rd, 2022

190+

# of countries supporting
as of September 23rd, 2022

Stability you can trust

Known as a fully-reserved stablecoin, every digital dollar of USDC on the internet is 100% backed by cash and short-dated U.S. treasuries, so that it’s always redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars.

USDC reserves are held in the custody and management of leading U.S. financial institutions, including BlackRock and BNY Mellon. Each month, Grant Thornton LLP, one of America's largest audit, tax and advisory firms, provides third-party assurance as to the size of the USDC reserve.

Circle is regulated as a licensed money transmitter under U.S. state law just like PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay. Circle’s financial statements are audited annually and subject to review by the SEC.

Attestation reports

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

Weekly USDC reserves breakdown1

 

Balances
 
SEPTEMBER 15TH, 2022
SEPTEMBER 22nd, 2022

  USDC in circulation

$50.4B

$50.0B
  USDC reserves 2

$50.5B

$50.1B
Cash

$10.4B

$11.6B
Short-duration U.S. Treasuries

$40.1B

$38.5B

 

 

USDC issuance and redemption, September 15th – September 22nd 20221
 
USDC issued $1.8B
USDC redeemed $2.2B
Weekly change in circulation -$0.5B

1 Data snapshot as of September 22nd, 2022 end-of-day. These weekly figures were calculated by Circle Internet Financial, LLC and have not been verified by any independent third party auditor (Including Grant Thornton). A Circle customer can always mint or redeem USDC in 1:1 exchange for U.S. Dollars through their Circle Account; customers are able to mint and redeem nearly instantly subject to settlement of funds

2 USDC is backed by the equivalent value of U.S. dollar denominated assets; USDC reserves are kept in the custody of leading U.S. financial institutions, including BlackRock and Bank of New York Mellon. Cash is held at US financial institutions; US Treasuries are held at third party custodians (US Bank, Bank of New York Mellon) and managed by professional asset managers (US Bank Asset Management, BlackRock)

USDC is everywhere

Choose your journey into the world of digital dollars. Dive deeper to learn all the ways businesses, users, and developers use USDC – or get USDC now.
gummie-business-julius

Businesses

Accelerate your global growth with lightning-fast USDC payments that deliver instant cash flow. Access USDC liquidity to trade, borrow, lend, and invest across crypto capital markets.

Explore for Businesses

The best way to access USDC

Open a Circle Account
gummie-user-jelly

Ecosystem

Experience the next generation of money with USDC. Send, spend, save, and exchange digital dollars with anyone, anywhere in the world, 24/7 at internet speed.

Explore the Ecosystem

Visit an exchange to get USDC

Coinbase
FTX.US
CRYPTO.COM
BINANCE.US
gummie-developer-bazooka

Developers

Integrate USDC into your app or dApp today – USDC is a programmable digital dollar that’s open-source, composable, and accessible for anyone to build with.

Explore for Developers

Start building now

See Github Repo
See Testnet Faucet
Get a Sandbox Key

Setting a blueprint for

stablecoin standards

USDC is often looked to as the blueprint to replicate for digital currency architecture. At the highest level, Circle works closely with U.S. congressional leaders to align the open values of Web3 with the traditional financial system and help create our harmonious, interconnected future.

USDC Federal Reserve Paper
Policy Hub
Circle Submits Response to Federal Reserve’s CBDC Discussion Paper
Ukraine-emergency-fund_blog
Policy Hub
War in Ukraine: Crypto-Powered Humanitarian Intervention
policy-dante
Policy Hub
A Coming of Age Moment for Crypto, Reflections on the White House Executive Order on Digital Assets
See More

FAQ

USDC is a fully-reserved stablecoin, which is a type of cryptocurrency, or digital asset. Unlike other cryptocurrencies that fluctuate in price, USDC is designed to maintain price equivalence to the U.S. dollar. USDC is a stable store of value that benefits from the speed and security of blockchain technology.

For every $1 of USDC in circulation, Circle holds $1 of USD. USDC is fully-backed by cash and short-dated U.S. treasuries, and these reserves are held in the custody of leading financial institutions.

Businesses can open a Circle Account to exchange U.S. dollars for USDC. When a business deposits USD into their Circle Account, Circle issues the equivalent amount of USDC to the business. The process of issuing new USDC is known as “minting”. This process creates new USDC in circulation.

Similarly, when a business wants to exchange their USDC for U.S. dollars, the business can deposit USDC into their Circle Account and request to receive U.S. dollars for free. This process of redeeming USDC is known as “burning”. This process takes USDC out of circulation.

When U.S. dollars are swapped for USDC on a digital asset exchange, the exchange will typically provide the balance of USDC it has on-hand to fulfill the swap. If the exchange needs more USDC to fulfill the swap, the exchange will often use its Circle Account to mint more USDC.

A fast and easy way for businesses to access USDC is to open a free Circle Account.

USDC can also be accessed quickly from digital asset exchanges like Coinbase, FTX.us, Crypto.com, and Binance.us.

Developers can start building on USDC today by accessing our GitHub repo. Additional resources are available from our USDC for Developers page.

USDC lives natively on 8 blockchains: Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, TRON, Algorand, Stellar, Flow, and Hedera – with more native integrations expected this year and beyond.

USDC has also been bridged to Polygon, Fantom, NEAR, Arbitrum, the Cosmos ecosystem, and many more emerging blockchains.

For more details, check out our USDC for Developers page.

USDC is issued by Circle, a company in the private sector, while a CBDC would be issued by a government. While most CBDCs are only in the research phase, USDC exists today and is widely used by millions of people around the world. Circle has developed the technology to enable USDC to run on over eight public blockchains, with open-source and private market innovation driving rapid progress in dollar digital currency models.


Read more about Circle’s insights on the Federal Reserve’s CBDC discussion.

Build with USDC

We’d love to get to know you, answer your questions, and help you realize the power of digital dollars for your business.