USDC

USDC (USD Coin) is a fiat-backed stablecoin pegged to the US dollar and issued by Circle, a US-based company. Each token is designed to be redeemable one-for-one for dollars, with reserves held mainly in short-dated US Treasury bills and cash, and reserve attestations published regularly by an independent accounting firm.

USDC is widely used across DeFi and by businesses because of its reputation for transparency and regulatory compliance. For example, a liquidity provider on a decentralized exchange might pair USDC with Ether in a pool, treating the USDC side as the stable leg of the position; companies also use USDC to settle invoices across borders in minutes rather than days. It is issued natively on many blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, and Base.

USDC's centralized design cuts both ways. Circle can freeze tokens at sanctioned or stolen-funds addresses, which regulators require but which means holders depend on the issuer. The token has also depegged once notably: in March 2023 it briefly traded near 88 cents when part of Circle's reserves were stuck at the failing Silicon Valley Bank, recovering after US authorities guaranteed the deposits. A common misconception is that USDC is government-issued or government-insured; it is a private company's liability, regulated but not backed by any deposit insurance for token holders.