Crypto that’s held to a higher standard
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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. People can send USDC to friends and family, pay for goods and services, or save for the future. Anyone with an internet connection can send, receive, and save USDC – no bank account required.

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.

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. With USDC, everyone saves.

Finance reimagined
USDC can do everything cash can do and more. Unlock opportunities in crypto capital markets for trading, lending, borrowing, and fundraising with USDC. Take USDC into the transformative world of finance and be your own bank. The possibilities are just beginning.

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
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.
See our full breakdown of the USDC reserve assets.
Weekly USDC reserves breakdown1
Balances |
||
JULY 29TH, 2022 |
AUGUST 5TH, 2022 |
|
USDC in circulation |
$54.6B |
$54.3B |
USDC reserves 2 |
$54.7B |
$54.5B |
Cash |
$12.3B |
$12.0B |
Short-duration U.S. Treasuries |
$42.5B |
$42.5B |
USDC issuance and redemption, July 29th – August 5th 20221 |
|
USDC issued | $1.4B |
USDC redeemed | $1.7B |
Weekly change in circulation | -$0.3B |
1 Data snapshot as of August 5th, 2022 12pm ET. 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 for everyone
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.
The best way to access USDC
Individuals
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.
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.
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.
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 an individual swaps U.S. dollars for USDC on a digital asset exchange, the exchange will provide the balance of USDC it has on-hand to the individual. If the exchange needs more USDC to fulfill the swap, the exchange will 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.
Individuals can access USDC quickly from digital asset exchanges like Coinbase, FTX.us, Crypto.com, and Binance.
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 theoretical 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.
CBDCs are being designed to solve many of the challenges already solved by USDC, such as making payments faster, cheaper, and inclusive. But CBDCs come with risks, including potentially harming individual privacy, giving governments the ability to deplatform people from their money, and creating massive “honey pots” of personal information.
Read more about Circle’s insights on the Fed’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.