USDC (USD Coin)

USDC is a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, a US company. It launched in 2018 and is the second-largest stablecoin after USDT. Each USDC is designed to be redeemable for one US dollar.

Circle says USDC is backed by cash and short-term US Treasury securities, much of it held in the Circle Reserve Fund, a government money-market fund managed by BlackRock, and publishes monthly attestations by an accounting firm. USDC is issued natively on many chains, including Ethereum, Solana, Base and Arbitrum.

USDC is widely used in DeFi and by institutions. Its peg is not risk-free: in March 2023, USDC briefly fell to about $0.88 after Circle disclosed that $3.3 billion of its reserves were held at the failed Silicon Valley Bank. The peg was restored after US authorities guaranteed the bank's deposits. Circle can freeze USDC in addresses linked to crime or sanctions.