Digital Dollar Analysis USDC

USDC was created through a joint venture between fintech firm Circle and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Announced on May 15, 2018, it officially launched in September 2018, and by December 2018, it ranked as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. By May 2019, USDC was available for trading in around 85 countries. Initially built on the Ethereum ERC-20 standard, USDC has since expanded to other blockchains. Notably, the rise in Bitcoin (BTC) in November 2020 led to increased demand for USDC, pushing its market capitalization close to $3 billion. On March 29, 2021, Visa announced that it would allow the use of USDC to settle transactions on its payment network.

Both USDC and USDT are stablecoins that experienced significant growth and expansion in 2020. The total supply of stablecoins multiplied over five times, from approximately $5 billion to more than $28 billion, coinciding with the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi). This surge was driven by several key factors:
Bridge Between Fiat and Crypto: Stablecoins serve as a bridge between traditional fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies, playing a crucial role in making the crypto market mainstream. Many experts believe stablecoins will pave the way for fiat-to-crypto payment systems and their widespread adoption in the coming years.
Developer and Trader Usability: Stablecoins are essential in making the advanced tools built on blockchain technology attractive and usable for developers and traders alike.
DeFi Payments: The need for stablecoins in DeFi to facilitate payments.
Corporate Adoption: Increasing corporate reliance on cryptocurrency for payments, with many preferring a digital currency backed by a real currency reserve, which is the foundation of stablecoins.
The primary difference between USDC and USDT lies in their use cases, which depend on specific needs and preferences. USDC is commonly used by institutions in the United States and is also available in other countries through Coinbase. Therefore, if your transactions are primarily through Coinbase, USDC would logically be your choice. On the other hand, USDT is widely used by traders and investors who prefer to keep their profits within the crypto market without exposure to the volatility of digital currencies. Hence, USDT is a favored choice among crypto traders and speculators.

Since USDC is built on the Ethereum ERC-20 standard, any Ethereum wallet can send and receive USDC globally instantly. Additionally, any ERC-20 token can be used by new decentralized applications (dApps) built on Ethereum, which has significantly contributed to USDC's popularity in the DeFi community. According to Circle's plans, they aim to work with commercial banks to allow users to deposit and withdraw stablecoins through their current bank accounts. In April 2021, Circle partnered with Signature Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in New York, making it the leading financial institution for Circle to hold billions of dollars in reserves associated with USDC.

USDC is not mined like many other cryptocurrencies. It is available in the form of Ethereum ERC-20, Algorand ASA, and Solana SPL tokens, purchasable using traditional USD on many major exchanges. Circle reports an overall market supply of about four billion USDC currently in circulation.

Coinbase and USDC:
As a major contributor to its issuance and creation, Coinbase is one of the primary exchanges offering USDC, purchasable against the USD. USDC is also available on several other cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized exchanges (DEX) like Uniswap.