$USDC

📊 Current USDC Overview

Price: Firmly holding around $1.00, varying within a few hundredths of a cent (e.g., $0.9996–$1.00045 across platforms)

Market Cap: Approximately $61.1 billion

Circulating Supply: About 61.1 billion USDC tokens

24‑Hour Volume: Ranges from $6 billion to $8 billion, depending on the exchange

🔐 What Is USDC?

A USD‑pegged stablecoin, issued by Circle (in partnership with Coinbase, previously the Centre Consortium)

Each USDC is backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars or equivalent reserves (e.g., U.S. Treasuries), with regular attestations (though not full audits)

It exists on Ethereum (ERC-20) and multiple other chains like Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum

🚀 Use Cases

Acts as a stable medium of exchange on crypto platforms, DEXs, and DeFi protocols

Frequently used for cross-border payments, merchant transactions, and yield farming

Provides volatility shelter for crypto investors when exiting positions

📅 Brief History

Launched in Sept 2018, developed by Circle & Coinbase

Moments of stress:

Mar 2023: Temporarily lost peg due to Silicon Valley Bank collapse, recovered swiftly

Feb 2024: Ceased issuance on TRON network for risk governance

📰 In the News

USDC backed the Circle IPO (CRCL) priced at $31, rocketing over 168%+ on debut and driving market cap to ~$61B

The strong IPO reflects growing institutional interest in stablecoins amid improving crypto regulation