$USDC
(USD Coin) is a cryptocurrency stablecoin that is designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged 1:1 to the United States dollar. This means that 1 USDC is always intended to be worth 1 US dollar.
Here's a breakdown of key aspects of USDC:
* Issued by: Circle, a financial technology company.
* Backing: Every USDC is 100% backed by reserves consisting of cash and short-dated U.S. Treasuries, held in regulated U.S. financial institutions. These reserves are regularly attested (audited) for transparency.
* Purpose: USDC aims to provide a digital alternative to the traditional US dollar, offering stability in the volatile cryptocurrency market. It's used for:
* Faster and cheaper global transactions and remittances.
* Payments and a means of storing value.
* Facilitating financial transactions within decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems (e.g., lending, borrowing, decentralized exchanges).
* Hedging against market volatility in crypto trading.
* Blockchain Platforms: While initially launched as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, USDC has expanded to be natively available on many other blockchain platforms, including Solana, Avalanche, TRON, Algorand, Stellar, Flow, Hedera, Base, Optimism, Aptos, and more.
* Current Value: As of June 18, 2025, the live price of USDC is approximately $0.999897 per USDC (USD), or around ₹86.36 INR per USDC.
In essence, USDC bridges traditional finance with blockchain technology, aiming to offer the benefits of a digital currency with the stability of the US dollar.
