A fully-reserved stablecoin, USDC, was created to ensure price parity with the US dollar.

USD Coin (USDC) is a fiat-collateralized stablecoin, a decentralized digital asset that lives on the blockchain and is pegged to a fiat currency — in this case, the United States dollar — to stabilize its value against market volatility. However, USDC is not the only stablecoin available in the market. Another asset-backed (U.S. dollar) stablecoin called Tether (USDT) was launched in 2014 by Tether Limited.

So who is behind the USD Coin? The Boston-based Circle and Coinbase exchange created the USD currency (USDC) in 2018 as part of the Centre consortium. USD Coin claims to be equivalent in value to one U.S. dollar, meaning that for every USDC in circulation, one U.S. dollar is held in reserve. In essence, the USD Coin is a service that tokenizes the U.S. dollar and makes it easier to utilize over the internet and on public blockchains.

Unlike cryptocurrencies, the USD Coin cannot be minted. USDC is available as ERC-20, the most widely used standard for blockchain apps, making it interoperable with all other Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps). However, it is not solely restricted to the Ethereum network. Instead, the USD Coin is compatible with other significant blockchain networks, including Solana, Avalanche, TRON, Algorand, Stellar, Flow and Hedera.

Since its introduction, USDC has established itself as a critical component of the stablecoin market with ample liquidity and trading across centralized and decentralized exchanges worldwide.