The Difference Between USDC and USDT Stablecoins
What are stablecoins in the first place?
In short: “stablecoin” is a type of cryptocurrency that has its price connected to the price of a fiat currency (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.) or a precious material (gold, oil, platinum, etc.). This way you may store your funds without worrying about the fiat price of your crypto going up or down – the price would remain constant. The price of the token remains stable as this coin has USD as its collateral currency and, theoretically, users may contact the token issuer and swap their tokens for a fiat equivalent. This puts a requirement on the token issuer to be able to pay out the token’s price. Thus, so there are no possibilities for fraudulent actions of any kind, the token-issuing company has to be audited frequently.
What is USDC?
USDC originated as an ETH-exclusive ERC-20 stablecoin issued by the Coinbase service. Now it is available in the BSC (BEP-20) variant as well, among other less known variations (Solana, Polygon, Algorand, etc.). It uses the Ethereum network to be sent and stored, which is handy if you use other ERC-20 tokens. It is also regularly monitored by financial institutions so there are no fraudulent actions performed by the token issuer.
What Is USD Coin | Detailed Review
USD Coin is one of the most popular stable coins in the crypto market. It is issued by regulated financial institutions and pegged to the US dollar at a ratio of 1:1.
How can I use USDC?
USDC is the only supported stablecoin in the Coinbase system, which is preferred for US residents. It may be used to exchange for other crypto or withdraw the crypto balance you possess to the bank account. This way, as USDC has its price locked at 1 USD, there would be no issues related to the price volatility. Aside from that, USDC can be used in any dApp that is based on the ERC-20 network standard. Easily create a USDC wallet on Guarda right now!
What is Tether (USDT)?
USDT or Tether is the stablecoin, issued by Tether Limited on different networks (ETH, TRX, and OMNI/BTC). For the sake of convenience, we would only review the ETH variant of this stablecoin in this article, however, you may store all the variants listed in Guarda Wallet with no limitations. Being the first didn’t necessarily guarantee the flawless functioning process – there were quite a few cases of illegal activities related to this currency. First, there was a security breach back in 2017 that resulted in, approximately, 30 million dollars worth of tokens being stolen as a result of Tether’s service hack. Additionally, in 2019 Bitfinex (Tether’s parent company) was accused of “borrowing” about 850 000 USD from Tether Limited to cover its debt. This, and the fact that some researchers claim that Tether is not fully backed with USD, do add negative tones to the USDT’s image. Create a USDT wallet on Guarda now!
What Is Tether | Detailed Review
Stablecoins are useful because they protect capital from volatility. USDT is a stablecoin whose price is always pegged to the U.S. dollar.
How can I use USDT?
Unlike USDC, USDT cannot be used on the Coinbase platform, which somewhat limits its use in case one wants to use this service. On the other hand, Tether is the most popular stablecoin with the highest circulation volume right now, so it could be found on most platforms and markets. Being the ERC-20 token, USDT could also be used in dApps, just like USDC.
What is the difference between USDT and USDC?
USDC vs USDT Details
| USDT | USDC | |
|---|---|---|
| Major supported networks | ETH, TRX, OMNI, BSC | ETH, BSC |
| How frequently is it audited? | Irregular | Once per month |
| Market cap (according to Coinmarketcap) | $62 589 839.,084 | $27 920 342.,828 |
| Circulating supply (according to Coinmarketcap) |
62 564 734.,131 USDT | 27 997 188.,341 USDC |
| Where can one exchange it? | Guarda Wallet, Uniswap, Kraken, etc | Guarda Wallet, Uniswap, Coinbase, etc |
Where to Buy USDC and/or USDT?
The safest way to purchase any of these stablecoins is to use the service they are issued by – Coinbase in case of USDC and Tether in case of USDT. Aside from that, almost every major cryptocurrency exchange service provides an option to purchase at least one of these stablecoins. Of course, this option is available in the Guarda app as well!
Where Can I Store USDT and USDC?
All the reviewed tokens require one of the major currency wallets to be stored on – either an Ether, Bitcoin, Tron, or the Binance Smart Chain wallet. One may use either the crypto exchange account to store these tokens at, or a hardware wallet, or a separate wallet app. As Guarda Wallet supports all of the aforementioned networks, it could be used to store both the USDC and the USDT safely – you are the only person that ever has any access to your wallet and it is available across all platforms: PC, smartphones, tablets – you name it.
Final Thoughts: Is USDC better than USDT?
It really depends on what your goals are and the circumstances of these tokens being used. USDT is a more widespread coin while USDC is relatively more trustable as it is audited much more frequently and there were no questionable actions recorded.