USD Coin (USDC) is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, designed to maintain a stable 1:1 value. It's an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain and available on other blockchains like Base, Polygon, Solana, and Stellar. USDC facilitates fast and inexpensive international payments, and is widely used in decentralized finance (DeFi) for trading, lending, and borrowing.
*Key Features:*
- *Backed by US dollars*: Each USDC is backed by a corresponding US dollar in reserve.
- *Transparent reserves*: Circle, the issuer, regularly reports its USD holdings.
- *Wide adoption*: USDC is supported by various crypto exchanges, wallets, and platforms.
USDC has $41 billion in assets under management and competes with Tether (USDT) in the stablecoin market ¹.
