What is USDC? USDC is currently the 2nd largest market capitalization stablecoin, considered a future replacement for USDT. So why does USDC have such a great position? Let’s find out more details about this project.
What is USDC?
USDC, also known as USD Coin, was launched in September 2018. This is a product of Center Consortium with a combination of Circle and the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. Similar to USDT, USDC is also backed by USD (US Dollar) at a 1:1 ratio. This means that 1 USDC will be equivalent to 1 USD.
In contrast to USDT, people have always been skeptical about asset reserve reports. USDC is censored by the financial crime prevention network FinCEN in the US. This means that USDC’s reserve assets are regularly censored and monitored, demonstrating the transparency and clarity of the USDC issuer.
What Are The Highlights Of USDC?
- Stabilization: USDC is Backed by USD (US Dollar) at a 1:1 ratio and always remains at $1. Thanks to its $1 status, USDC is a safe haven for people when the market fluctuates.
- Transparency: USDC is being audited by Grant Thornton LLP, which is the 7th largest auditing company in the world. Audit reports are published monthly to ensure transparency and clarity of the project.
- Reputation level: USDC is a combined product between Circle and the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. Circle is the first financial company to obtain a Class F DABA license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). Coinbase is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange that IPO’d on the US stock exchange.
How USDC works
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Step 1: People deposit USD (US Dollars) into bank accounts or institutions managed by the Center.
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Step 2: Center mint issues an amount of USDC on the Blockchain with a value equivalent to the amount of USD people deposit.
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Step 3: The Center will send the USDC number to everyone’s registered wallet address.
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Step 4: When there is no longer a need to use USDC, people can send USDC to the wallet address managed by the Center and receive USD back (USDC will be burned).
What Are the Limitations of USDC?
- Concentration: In August 2022, when the US government punished Tornado Cash, they said that Tornado Cash helped Hackers commit money laundering. Notably here, Circle locked $75,000 of wallets related to Tornado Cash operations. This demonstrates the centrality of the project, which can lock USDC in user wallets at any time.
- Conversion: Circle does not yet support USDC to Fiat conversion in many countries, currently only supports US citizens. Users who want to convert USDC to Fiat must go through exchanges.
Development Roadmap
Circle has many new updates for its 2023 plan:
- Launch of Cross-chain bridge for Stablecoin.
- Support the development of web3 applications through Hacker House with Solana and Jumpcrypto.
Core Team
Jeremy Allaire – CEO: He has many years of experience in the technology field. Before becoming co-founder of Circle, he held the position of CTO of Macromedia – a subsidiary of Adobe corporation. He is also the Founder of Brightcove – a Streaming technology company with 820 employees based in Boston.
Elisabeth Carpenter – COO: She has a master’s degree from Harvard University. Before joining Circle, she was a former colleague of Jeremy Allaire with more than 7 years working at Brightcove. Here she held many positions such as: Sales, business development, strategy development, service development…
Dante Disparte – CSO: He has a master’s degree in senior management from Harvard University. He has many years of experience in the field of security and risk management. Having worked for more than 9 years at ASP – a security project of the US government.
Li Fan – CTO: She has a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously held the position of CTO at Lime – A company providing clean solutions for the environment. She also held positions such as senior manager at Google, Head of Engineering at Pinterest.
Nikhil Chandhok – CPO: He has many years of experience in the field of product development. Used to develop AI and AR products at companies such as: Meta, Google, Youtube, Microsoft.
Kash Razzaghi – CBO: Before joining Circle, he was CEO of Fancred – Sports digital media platform. He also worked at Brightcove, where he was responsible for Americas market revenue.
Exchanges
USDC is being traded on most large and small exchanges such as: Binance, Coinbase, Kucoin, MEXC, Bybit…
Project Information Channel
- Website: https://www.circle.com/en/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/circle
- Discord:
Summary
Although born late, USDC is increasingly proving its position in the eyes of users thanks to clear and transparent reports.
However, Circle needs to take more careful steps after the incident of locking wallets related to Tornado Cash. This is a huge minus point in the eyes of the Crypto community in particular as well as the Blockchain community in general.
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