$USDC — the second largest **stablecoin**, pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio. It is issued by the company **Circle**, which adheres to strict regulatory requirements.
Each USDC is fully backed by **reserves** in the form of cash and short-term US Treasury bonds, which are regularly audited. This ensures its transparency and reliability.
USDC is widely used for **stable transactions** in the volatile cryptocurrency market, fast **international payments**, operations in **decentralized finance (DeFi)**, and as a convenient gateway between fiat and cryptocurrencies. Due to regulatory compliance, USDC is often considered one of the safest stablecoins, as evidenced by its availability in Europe under the new MiCA regulations.
---
