What Is USDC?

USDC is a stablecoin that offers users a secure, low-volatility payment alternative to fiat currencies and credit cards. When used at merchants, USDC can be purchased using either directly using an app such as Coin Wallet or through point-of-sale systems that support it (typically by scanning QR codes). Furthermore, USDC can easily and cheaply transfer between platforms via blockchains such as Ethereum; furthermore it can even be staked into exchanges and DeFi lending pools to earn additional rewards.

USDC stands out from other stablecoins such as Tether by being fully backed by reserves that represent its equivalent in U.S. dollars, keeping its price as close to that of the dollar as possible while increasing stability and reliability. Circle, the company behind USDC, partners with regulated financial institutions to store these reserves while regularly auditing them by top accounting firms to maintain transparency and trust among users.

Due to these features, USDC has quickly become the go-to stablecoin for businesses and individuals looking to build on-chain dApps or services using U.S. dollars as building blocks. In fact, it is one of the most widely available stablecoins today, accepted by an ever-increasing list of merchants, dApps and services worldwide.

To make adding USDC support easier for developers, the USDC team has designed an open-source protocol that anyone can utilize. This enables programmers to write applications utilizing this protocol and integrate it seamlessly with other blockchain products for an improved customer experience.

USDC can be implemented on Algorand blockchain, an scalable platform ideal for large-scale financial products and services. With high throughput and low fees, Algorand offers an ideal foundation to host new dApps that require rapidly moving large sums of money quickly and cost-effectively.

USDC can also be deployed on Optimism, a Layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that helps reduce transaction fees and boost performance. On Optimism, users can utilize USDC transactions while accessing Ethereum’s dApp ecosystem without incurring additional transaction costs beyond what are incurred from using Ethereum itself.

USDC can also facilitate cross-chain transfers among various blockchains through its integration with CCTP, the Cross Chain Transfer Protocol. CCTP works by “teleporting” native USDC from one blockchain to the next – thus reducing liquidity fragmentation and making it easier for developers to build inter-chain applications such as trading, lending, payments or lending services – making USDC a universal liquidity layer in support of innovation across cryptocurrency ecosystems.