USD Coin Price

USDC price

About USD Coin

USD Coin (USDC) is a type of digital currency known as a stablecoin that is pegged to the U.S. dollar on a 1:1 ratio to reduce volatility. It’s issued by Circle, a fintech company based in Boston, Massachusets. At the same time, Centre, a consortium comprising Circle and the Coinbase crypto exchange, develops its technology and governing framework.

What is USD Coin (USDC)?

Circle describes the USDC stablecoin as a “digital dollar.” It claims every unit of the cryptocurrency is backed by an equal amount of U.S. dollars or dollar-denominated assets held in reserve. It means that if you own 1 USD Coin, Circle has 1 U.S. dollar in its reserves to back it up.

In essence, it’s a dollar equivalent that facilitates transactions over the internet and on public blockchains like Ethereum (ETH), Algorand (ALGO), Solana (SOL), Stellar (XLM), and TRON (TRX). 

According to Circle, USDC’s reserve portfolio is held at the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM) and is managed by BlackRock, an American multinational investment company. The reserve assets are audited following standards the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) sets, with Circle issuing monthly attestations. 

However, it must be noted that despite the name and the inference that it’s a tokenized version of the dollar, the USDC stablecoin is not a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and has no affiliation with the U.S. federal government.

What is USD Coin used for?

Because it holds its value more stably than regular cryptocurrencies, USDC has found use in several areas, including: 

• Hedging against the volatility of other cryptocurrencies
• Sending remittances across borders without bank accounts
• Gaining exposure to the U.S. dollar for non-U.S. investors
• Holding against inflation of local currencies
• Raising funds for startups and nonprofits worldwide
• Integrating payment systems and applications across blockchains.

Who are the founders of USD Coin?

The Centre Consortium founded the USDC crypto in 2018. It’s a partnership between Circle and Coinbase, with additional investment from Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware manufacturer, Bitmain. 

Circle was founded by American technologist and entrepreneur Jeremy Allaire and software developer Sean Neville, making them the brains behind the USD Coin.  

A brief history of USD Coin

USD Coin came into existence on Sept. 26, 2018, five months after Circle announced it. It was launched as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, and its primary purpose was to provide the crypto community with a stable digital representation of the U.S. dollar.

In June 2019, Circle teamed up with Coinbase to establish the Centre Consortium, which managed the USDC stablecoin. Bitmain became the third member of the Centre Consortium when it joined in October 2019.

Centre’s first significant step since taking over the management of USDC came in July 2020, when it announced the stablecoin would now be supported on Algorand. It marked the first time the USDC crypto had been moved outside the Ethereum ecosystem.

Between September 2020 and November 2021, Centre added support for USDC on several other blockchains, starting with Stellar, then Solana, Hedera Hashgraph, Avalanche, Polygon, and TRON.

USDC experienced other vital events between these milestones, including Visa becoming the first major payment network to accept the stablecoin for transaction settlement in March 2021. 

In July of the same year, Circle changed its reserve policy for USDC from being fully backed by U.S. dollars to being backed by what it called “fully reserved assets.” It meant that USDC was now backed by a combination of U.S. dollars and other assets, including short-term U.S. Treasury bills.

However, USDC has not always had a smooth ride. In March 2023, it lost its peg to the dollar after its issuer confirmed that $3.3 billion, or about 8% of its reserves, had been put at risk following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

What makes USD Coin (USDC) unique?

Most stablecoins in the market primarily function in the same way, but according to Centre, several aspects of USDC set it apart from other digital assets:

• Transparency: USDC has gone to great lengths to portray an image of transparency and regulatory compliance. Its issuer insists it follows strict regulatory guidelines, performs regular audits, and provides reports on the state of USDC’s reserves.
• Issuing institution: USDC is issued by Circle, which is a regulated financial institution headquartered in Boston, Massachusets. Additionally, it is managed by Centre, a consortium that brings together several big names in the crypto space, including Coinbase and Bitmain.
• Collateral: While other issuers back their stablecoins with various financial assets, USDC is fully backed by fiat collateral comprising Treasury securities and cash deposits.
• Stability: Unlike regular cryptocurrencies, USDC is designed to maintain a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar, allowing it better to withstand the volatility inherent in the crypto market.
• Ethereum-based: USDC is an ERC-20 token, making it compatible with the Ethereum infrastructure, which is one of the most expansive ecosystems in the crypto sector.

How USD Coin works

USD Coin operates on an open-source framework that focuses on creating a stable cryptocurrency tied to traditional fiat currency. 

Generating new USDC tokens occurs when individuals purchase them; conversely, they are retired from circulation when users trade them in for fiat currency.

When you deposit fiat to a cryptocurrency exchange to initiate the purchase of USDC, the exchange employs a specialized smart contract related to the stablecoin, which generates an equivalent amount of new USD Coins.

You then receive the freshly minted USDC tokens, while the original fiat currency you provided is placed in the reserves, acting as collateral for the USD Coins.

This process is fundamental in ensuring that the entire supply of USDC remains backed by tangible reserves.

On the other hand, if you decide to sell your USDC holdings, the process follows a similar pattern but in reverse:

• You offer the USD Coins you wish to sell on the crypto exchange.
• The exchange utilizes a smart contract to extract the specified amount of USDC tokens from circulation.
• In return, you are compensated with an equivalent value of U.S. dollars (or any fiat currency at its current dollar exchange rate) from the reserve, effectively “cashing out” your USD Coins.

How is the USD Coin network secured?

USD Coin does not have a network of its own; instead, it operates on several blockchains, including Ethereum, Algorand, and TRON. Therefore it is mainly secured by the same mechanisms that protect whatever network it is on.

Additionally, Centre has placed various safeguards for the smart contracts running USDC, including an upgradeable design that allows code to be updated and improved for security purposes.

Other features include a blacklist function that allows the USDC issuer to block suspicious accounts from accessing the service and a pausable contract that can be activated to halt the stablecoin’s operations in emergencies such as depegging events.

USDC is also secured through its adherence to regulatory oversight and conformity to pertinent laws. If crypto projects run afoul of existing laws, they risk being penalized with heavy fines or being stopped from operating in the offended jurisdiction.

Lastly, the Centre consortium has committed to regular attestations and audits of USDC’s U.S. dollar reserves. The measure is meant to ensure USDC tokens have a 1:1 correspondence with actual U.S. dollars, to enhance transparency and bolster public trust in the stablecoin.  

Where can you buy USD Coin (USDC)?

You can buy USD Coin on several crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance, KuCoin, Kraken, and Crypto.com.  

How many USD Coins (USDC) are there in circulation?

As of December 23, 2024, there were $42,944,345,425 USD Coins in circulation. However, USDC has no coded maximum supply, so the number is expected to grow with time.

How does the price performance of USD Coin compare against its peers?

USDC came into its own after the fall of the Terra (UST) algorithmic stablecoin in May 2022, with investors turning to it for its perceived security and reserve backing. 

According to historical data from CoinGecko, from that juncture, only Tether (USDT) had a more significant share of the stablecoin market than USDC, even though USDC gained nearly $5.5 billion in value. In comparison, USDT shed about $10.7 billion from its market cap then.

By September 2022, USDC boasted a 36.8% share of the stablecoin market, while USDT claimed slightly more than 45%.

However, from March 2023, following the collapse of SVB, USDC faltered slightly and lost its pegging. The incident affected the USDC price and hampered its upward movement. Tether took advantage of USD Coin’s misstep and consolidated its control of the stablecoin space, growing its market cap to nearly 70% of the stablecoin sector. 

USDC’s market cap at the time of writing made up just 21.6% of the stablecoin sector’s capitalization, down from a high of 36.9%. However, it has performed better than most of its peers, including DAI, BUSD, and TUSD, contributing only 8.66% of the $120 billion stablecoin industry market cap together.

How to add USD Coin (USDC) to MetaMask?

Each blockchain network that supports USDC has a unique contract address for the stablecoin. It means that you will need to use the correct contract address for the network you are using to add USDC to your MetaMask wallet.

MetaMask is set to the Ethereum mainnet by default, but if the USDC you want to add exists on a different network, you might need to switch to that network.

You can get the USDC address for the network your coins are on from the official USD Coin website or trusted platforms like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. Once you do, the next steps are pretty straightforward:

• In MetaMask, look for the “Assets” tab at the bottom and give it a click.
• On the new page, spot the “Import Tokens” tab at the bottom and click on it. 
• Now, click the “Custom Token” tab (the name might vary depending on your MetaMask version).
• You’ll be asked to enter the USDC token contract address in the “Token Contract Address” field. You can find this info from a trusted source like the official USD Coin website or a reliable blockchain explorer.
• MetaMask should automatically fill in the “Token Symbol” and “Decimals of Precision” fields. These values should align with the particulars of the USDC token.
• Give the “Next” or “Add Token” button a tap.
• MetaMask will then show you a confirmation screen displaying the details of the token. If everything checks out, hit the “Add Tokens” button to complete the process.

You’ve now successfully integrated USD Coin into your MetaMask wallet. You’ll spot your USDC balance in the “Assets” tab, and you’re all set to use it for transactions or even trading on the supported blockchain network.

FAQs