Circle Upgrades the USDC Transparency Stack: Why Is This Important for Stablecoins?

USDC is 1:1 redeemable: “Any amount. Always. Period”

The Circle team emphasized the dependability of the USDC stablecoin’s asset basket. Its reserves are made up of short-dated US Treasuries (80%) and cash (20%) denominated in US dollars; all assets are held with regulated US institutions.

Circle also made fun of its competitors, who employ a variety of assets to underpin their centralized stablecoins:

The USDC reserve does not contain any other high risk, less liquid assets such as digital assets, private or public equity, loans secured or unsecured, commercial paper of any kind or credit rating, assets denominated in currencies other than US dollars, or assets held with third parties subject to lock-ups or other restrictions upon liquidity.

As a result, USDC can always be redeemed for one US dollar; in the previous year, Circle has redeemed $108.4 billion in USDC in response to client requests.

By press time, USDC’s market cap had surpassed $53 billion, with a daily trading volume of more than $800 million.