USDC | Always-on dollars, internet speed | Circle
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Always-on dollars, internet speed

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.

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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 is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars.
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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. 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.

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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.

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Send money cost effectively

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.

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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.

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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 firm, USDC is a trusted, widely accepted, and highly liquid digital dollar.

$25.8B

in circulation today
as of September 24, 2023

1.8M

# of holders
as of September 22, 2023 via Etherscan

$4.15B

24 hr trading volume
as of September 24, 2023 via CoinGecko

$12.18T

Total on-chain transactions
as of September 22, 2023

190+

# of countries supporting
as of September 22, 2023

Stability you can trust

USDC is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. USDC reserves are held in the management and custody of leading US financial institutions, including BlackRock and BNY Mellon.

View monthly attestations, which provide assurance that the amount of USDC reserves greater than or equal to the amount in circulation each month, according to attestation standards set out by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Circle is regulated as a licensed money transmitter under US state law just like PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay. Circle’s financial statements are audited annually.

Reserves composition

As of September 21, 2023

Balances

In Circulation

Reserves1

 
USDC in Circulation
 
Cash at Reserve Banks
 
Circle Reserve Fund
 
 
Cash at Reserve Banks

Issuance and Redemption

7 day change

Issued

Redeemed
Change in Circulation
30 day change

Issued

Redeemed
Change in Circulation
365 day change

Issued

Redeemed
Change in Circulation
The Circle Reserve Fund is a SEC-registered government money market fund which holds a portfolio of short-dated US Treasuries, overnight US Treasury repurchase agreements, and cash. For more information visit Circle Reserve Fund.
For further details on the USDC reserve, please see our detailed monthly attestations.
1 USDC is backed by the equivalent value of US dollar denominated assets held as reserves for the benefit of USDC holders. Cash is held at US financial institutions. The portfolio of the Circle Reserve Fund, which can contain short-dated US Treasuries, overnight US Treasury repurchase agreements, and cash, is custodied at The Bank of New York Mellon and is managed by 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.
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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

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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.

Visit an exchange to get USDC

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Developers

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

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 US dollar. USDC is a stable store of value that benefits from the speed and security of blockchain technology.

USDC is a digital dollar backed 100% by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets and is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. A portion of the USDC reserve is invested in the Circle Reserve Fund (USDXX), an SEC-regulated money market fund managed by BlackRock. Daily independent third-party reporting on the portfolio is publicly available. See more on our Transparency page.

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

When US 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 apply for a Circle Account.

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

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

USDC is natively accessible for 14 blockchains: Algorand, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Flow, Hedera, NEAR, Noble, OP Mainnet, Polkadot, SolanaStellar, and TRON  – with more expected this year and beyond.

USDC has also been bridged to many emerging blockchains by third-party bridges, resulting in the creation of bridged forms of USDC such as USDC.e.

For more details, see 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 11 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.