$USDC (USD Coin) is a stablecoin cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar at a 1:1 ratio, designed to maintain a stable value. Launched in September 2018 by Circle and Coinbase through the CENTRE Consortium, it’s primarily used for transactions, payments, and DeFi applications where price stability is crucial. USDC is issued as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum but also operates on other blockchains like Solana, Avalanche, and Polygon for faster and cheaper transactions.

As of my last data in March 2024, USDC had a market cap of about $32.5 billion, making it one of the largest stablecoins, though smaller than Tether (USDT). It’s backed by reserves of cash and cash equivalents, with monthly attestations by accounting firms to ensure transparency—though it’s not immune to scrutiny, as some reports have noted occasional reserve discrepancies. Unlike USDT, USDC is often seen as more regulatory-compliant, especially in the U.S., where Circle operates under strict financial oversight.

USDC’s utility includes trading on exchanges, remittances, and as a stable medium in DeFi protocols for lending, borrowing, or yield farming. Its price typically hovers around $1.00, with minor fluctuations (e.g., $0.999 to $1.001) due to market dynamics. However, it has faced depegging risks, like during the March 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse, when $3.3 billion of its reserves were tied to the failed bank, causing a temporary drop to $0.87. It later recovered after Circle secured the funds.

On May 1, 2025, I don’t have real-time price data, but USDC should still be around $1.00 unless significant market events occurred. You can check live prices on platforms like Binance, Coinbase, or CoinGecko. If you’d like to explore its role in a specific context (e.g., compared to USDT or in DeFi), let me know!