USD Coin (USDC) is one of the leading stable coins or stable cryptocurrencies on the cryptocurrency market. It emerged in 2018 and is currently managed by Center Consortium, a project that includes properly regulated organizations in the U.S. and Europe, such as Coinbase and Circle.
The main feature of the cryptocurrency is that its price is linked at a 1:1 ratio to the U.S. dollar (1 USDC = 1 USD). This is because it is backed by financial assets in the accounts of its creators (such as bonds, coins, stocks, etc.) so that each minted USDC is properly backed by an asset whose face value is equivalent to 1 USD.
What Is USDC coin?
USDC coin is an ERC-20 standard token that runs on the Ethereum network, which is the second most important blockchain today, so details about its issuance and working capital are available for public discussion on the network.
USDC, unlike most cryptocurrencies (such as bitcoin or ether), always retains the same value (≈ 1 USD) and its volatility is virtually zero, so it can be used as a hedging tool during periods of high market volatility.
Project Center, which is responsible for USDC, is continually reviewing its asset reserves. They all show that 100% of the tokens are properly secured. In addition, the companies responsible for the Center are appropriately regulated and authorized to act as stable coin issuers.
Who Is Behind the Creation of USDC Coin?
In September 2018, the USD Coin coin was launched, developed by Centre, a partnership between the U.S. exchange Coinbase and financial technology company Circle. The project is led by co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, a technologist and serial digital entrepreneur who previously served as CTO at Macrowave. After other ventures, which included video platform Brightcove, he founded fintech company Circle in 2013, and five years later joined Coinbase to create USDC.
How Does USDC Work?
Behind every USDC issued by Circle are U.S. dollar assets held in reserves of regulated financial institutions in separate and recognized accounts, allowing them to be publicly audited and reviewed monthly by an independent auditing firm, Grand Thornton, to ensure compliance.
Is USDC on Ethereum?
USDC is currently available as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum’s network. USDC leverages the security of the Ethereum blockchain and applies its technology to smart contracts, and enjoys high support among developers. The developers decided to create it on the Ethereum network for these reasons. Thus, two Ethereum wallets can send and receive any amount of USDC at any time and from anywhere in the world.
However, the coin has also found use in Algorand, Solana, Stellar, and Tron, making it a proper fit for any type of solution in these networks.
Distinctive Features of USDC Coin
At the initial stage, when issuing USDC, the developers were aimed at traders who wanted a stable value of the coin to work and exit trading positions and token creators who wished to tokenize various contracts. It is important for the latter customers to get a stable value for the coin rather than tying tokens to Bitcoin or Ethereum.
With the issuance of USDC, users could conduct any financial transactions worldwide. To work, the client must provide KYC data. According to the terms, there are no restrictions on the ownership of tokens, but they may appear in the future. The use of cryptocurrency is possible on any cryptocurrency exchange that supports the ERC-20 standard and storage - on wallets with similar compatibility.
Similar to other stablecoins, the principle of the coin’s action is to reduce the volatility of the rate of other digital currencies, which allows investors to increase the reliability of forecasts. This is the essence of USDC.
Unlike other stable coins, USDC is often more reliable and honest. However, all analogs can not provide such transparency and financial results after the audit because they are offshore, outside the control of the relevant authorities. In addition, analogs use anonymous partners, closed code, and operate in a closed system. In USDC, all of the above disadvantages are excluded; there is open reporting on transactions and security, and the activities are carried out within the U.S. legislation.
The operation is based on the ERC-20 algorithm, which is a big plus because there is no need to create new software. Users can continue using the usual wallets to store, sell, and buy tokens.
The Difference Between USDC and USDT Stablecoins
There are two major competitors - USDC and USDT - you would wonder “what is the difference between them?
Where Can You Get USD Coin?
Compared to other tokens backed by real money, USDC has significant advantages. Among them is the complete absence of listing problems, wide distribution, and transparency. Currently, the token is traded on more than 20 major exchanges, including Guarda, where USD Coins can be exchanged, and other financial transactions can be made.
Using the coin is as affordable and easy as possible.
How to Use USDC
The USDC has various use cases. On the Guarda platform, users can:
- purchase the coin to perform other transactions or simply store the coin/HODL;
- exchange the coin for other coins or vice versa;
- send the coin to the address of friends, family members, or business partners;
- also receive USDC from other wallets.
Where to Store USD Coin
The USD Coin (USDC) is an ERC-20 type token, indicating that USDC can be stored in any cryptocurrency wallet compatible with ETH and ERC-20 tokens. USDC holders can choose from a rich list of cryptocurrency wallets on the market, mobile, online, hardware, and desktop wallets.
Guarda offers the best solution for storing, buying, and selling USDC tokens. Storing your USDC tokens with the Guarda wallet provides a secure, high-level solution with convenient functionality.
Get Guarda wallet on all possible platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and browsers.
Conclusion
To conclude the article, it should be noted that USD Coin is the future. The coin has excellent characteristics and the potential to become the best stable coin capable of completely displacing its counterparts from the market. USD Coin is endowed with all the advantages of blockchain, in full compliance with the legislation and standards of banking organizations. It provides ample opportunities for investors, and they are also available to traders.
The Centre plans to form a deployed ecosystem that will cooperate with a single digital currency available anywhere in the world. The developers themselves have an excellent platform at their disposal, which is capable of helping to translate all the planned ideas into reality. In addition, the capabilities of major partners and investors are involved in the work.
