The Circle Internet Financial announced that it seeks to expand the USDC into five different blockchain ecosystems including Polkadot and NEAR blockchains.
Circle Internet Financial announced that it will expand the circulation of its USD Coin to five additional blockchains.
The fintech firm behind USD Coin made the announcement at the Converge 22 conference. The conference took place in San Francisco after it was organized by Circle.
Different blockchains accept USDC
By the end of 2022, USDC will start to circulate on Polkadot, Optimism and NEAR blockchains. The second largest stablecoin will also be available on the Cosmos ecosystem.
Joao Reginatto, the VP of product at Circle seeks to increase USDC availability from eight to 13 ecosystems. The expansion will enable blockchain developers building on the USDC to experience greater liquidity.
The system also allows users interoperability within the economy. Extending multiple chain support will open doors for exchanges, institutions and developers.
The move seeks to innovate and have easier access to a trusted and stable digital dollar. During the conference, Circle also revealed the cross-chain transfer protocol. The protocol will help USDC by enabling efficient transactions across different blockchains.
In addition, the protocol will aid developers in the creation of dApps. The protocol also allows wallets and other tools to streamline USDC operations.
Rivalry between exchanges
The announcement comes as a relief for USDC investors who witnessed the exiling from Binance. India’s WazirX exchange followed in Binance’s steps and made a similar announcement.
The announcement took place just days later. Both exchanges announced the delisting of USDC, along with USDP and TUSD.
The move acts as part of the BUSD auto conversion feature. The move aims to convert all balances of the 3 stablecoins into Binance-issued BUSD. Therefore, USDC’s multichain expansion comes at a critical time. This happens due to the increasing heat from rival stablecoin issuers.
DeFi platforms also started launching their own stablecoins as well. These developments contributed to the USDC’s circulation coming down more than 10%. The circulation came down from $55 billion to $49 billion last month.
How the USDC fairs
Currently, Circle supports USDC natively across eight blockchain ecosystems, namely Ethereum and Solana. Others include Avalanche, TRON, Algorand, Hedera, Flow and Stellar.
Every digital dollar of USDC on the internet is fully backed by cash and short-dated US treasuries. The USDC remains redeemable at a ratio of 1:1 for US dollars.
Almost $49 billion worth of USDC remains currently in circulation. Data from Etherscan revealed that there exist 1.5 million holders of USDC. The maker holding cap at about 3.3 billion USDC.
As of September 23, USDC carried out chain transactions totaling 6.23 trillion. The USDC maintained a presence in more than 190 countries. USDC’s current market capitalization stands at $48.8 billion.
