USD Coin USDC
Circle Internet Financial
USDC is the regulated US-domiciled USD stablecoin issued by Circle, designed for compliance-first DeFi, payments and tokenized finance use cases.
Circle Internet Financial, LLC
- Country of origin
- United States
- Jurisdiction
- Delaware, US · Massachusetts (HQ) · France (EU EMI)
- HQ
- Boston
- Founded
- Oct 1, 2013
- Structure
- public
- Sister companies
- Circle Mint France (subsidiary)
- Jeremy Allaire CEO · since 2013
- Heath Tarbert President · since 2023
- Nikhil Chandhok CTO
Circle is a publicly-traded company (NYSE: CRCL since IPO 2024). USDC was originally launched via Centre Consortium, a JV with Coinbase, dissolved in 2023 — Circle now solely manages issuance. Circle obtained EU EMI authorization in France (mid-2024) and operates Circle Mint France for European institutional flows.
Timeline
- Sep 26, 2018USDC launches via Centre Consortium
Circle and Coinbase launch USDC under a joint governance entity, with reserves at US banks and monthly attestations.
- Oct 22, 2020USDC on Solana
Solana deployment becomes a major DeFi liquidity driver; today the second-largest USDC chain by supply.
- Mar 10, 2023SVB collapse — USDC depegs to $0.88
Disclosure of $3.3 B USDC reserves held at Silicon Valley Bank during its collapse triggers a 60-hour depeg. Circle is made whole when FDIC backs all SVB depositors.
- Aug 21, 2023Centre Consortium dissolved
Circle takes sole issuance and governance control of USDC; Coinbase exits the consortium.
- Jul 1, 2024MiCA EMI authorization in France
Circle becomes the first major stablecoin issuer to receive an Electronic Money Institution license under MiCA, enabling regulated EU issuance of USDC and EURC.
- Aug 15, 2024Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) v2
CCTP v2 launches with hooks and faster finality, enabling native USDC movement across 12+ chains without bridges.
- Dec 5, 2024Circle IPO on NYSE (ticker: CRCL)
Circle goes public on NYSE, raising USD 1.05 B at USD 25 B valuation.
- Mar 1, 2025Circle Payments Network launch
B2B payments network on USDC settles institutional flows in 22 countries day-1.
- Nov 15, 2025GENIUS Act enacted (US)
USDC becomes one of the first stablecoins to qualify under the GENIUS Act framework for federally-regulated US stablecoins.
Backing
Mechanism and reserves
Backing
100% reserves in cash deposits at regulated US banks and short-duration US Treasury bills via the BlackRock-managed Circle Reserve Fund (SEC-registered government money market fund).
Mint / redeem
Mint/redeem 1:1 USD via Circle Mint (institutional customers); retail accesses USDC through exchanges. Minimum institutional mint USD 100 K, settles same-day in USD via Fedwire.
- Deloitte & Touche LLP · Monthly View proof →
Reserve composition
- Short-term US Treasuries (Circle Reserve Fund) 82.5%
- Cash deposits at US banks 17.5%
Networks and deployments
polygon 
optimism 
bsc Ecosystem
- USDC (multi-chain USD stablecoin)
- EURC (Euro-pegged stablecoin, MiCA EMT)
- Circle Mint (institutional issuance portal)
- CCTP v2 (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol)
- Circle Payments Network (B2B settlement)
- Circle Account (treasury management)
- Programmable Wallets (developer SDK)
- Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Bybit
- Aave, Compound, Curve, Uniswap, MakerDAO
- Stripe, Visa, Mastercard pilot programs
- Skyfire, x402, Coinbase Agent Payments (AI agents)
- Solana ecosystem (Phantom, Jupiter, Jito)
- BlackRock (reserve management)
- Stripe (USDC payouts)
- Visa (settlement pilots)
- BlackRock BUIDL (tokenized Treasuries → USDC)
Real-world use
- ›DeFi liquidity (largest single-stablecoin liquidity on Ethereum L2s)
- ›Corporate treasury and B2B settlement
- ›AI-agent payments (x402, Skyfire, Coinbase Agent Payments)
- ›RWA tokenization (Ondo, BlackRock BUIDL, etc.)
- ›Cross-border payouts (Stripe, freelance platforms)
Regulation and compliance
Circle Mint France authorized as EMI; USDC qualifies as e-money token.
USDC qualifies under the federal stablecoin framework enacted 2025-11-15.
Circle holds Major Payment Institution license in Singapore.
- United States MSB (Money Service Business) FinCEN · Dec 1, 2013
- France / EU Electronic Money Institution (EMI) ACPR · Jul 1, 2024
- Singapore Major Payment Institution MAS · Jun 1, 2023
- Bermuda Digital Asset Business License BMA · Sep 1, 2021
- !March 2023: USDC reserves at SVB triggered 60-hour depeg to $0.88, surfacing concentration risk in US banking.
- !Active OFAC compliance: Circle freezes addresses sanctioned by Treasury, including 38 addresses linked to Tornado Cash in 2022.
Specific risks
- ● US banking system concentration — major reserve drawdown if a custodian bank fails.
- ● Centralization of freeze authority enables OFAC takedowns of holder balances.
- ● Regulatory dependence on stable US federal framework; political risk in framework rollback.
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How USD Coin fits in
This page is a structured snapshot of USD Coin as of 2026-05-31. For deeper analysis, see related blog posts on the blog index.