Payments & treasury
infrastructure for the internet
We help businesses accept payments and send payouts globally in one unified platform. Move digital money leveraging traditional payment rails and do business in a more global, scalable and efficient way through blockchain infrastructure. Circle seamlessly connects these worlds.
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USD Coin (USDC): Build with dollar digital currency
USDC represents a major breakthrough in how we use money on the internet. Dollar digital currency is like other digital content — it moves at the speed of the internet, can be exchanged in the same way we share content, and is cheaper and more secure than existing payment systems.
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Always on. Always open.
USDC transcends borders and banking hours. As a digital dollar with global reach, USDC can be available whenever and wherever you need it. People can send USDC to friends and family, pay for goods and services, or save for the future. Anyone with an internet connection can send, receive, and save USDC – no bank account required.
Instant cash flow. All day. Every day.
No more waiting to finalize a transaction and withdraw cash. USDC makes the concept of settlement times obsolete with payments that can circle the globe and land in your account as fast as email. Imagine FX trades of any size that can take seconds to complete – that’s the power of USDC.
Dollars that make cents
It shouldn’t cost money to use money. Say goodbye to paying $50 to send a wire transfer – say hello to a fraction of a cent. Merchants can avoid incurring 2.9% fees on credit card payments, benefit from instant cash flow, and pass back savings to customers. With USDC, everyone saves.
Finance reimagined
USDC can do everything cash can do and more. Unlock opportunities in crypto capital markets for trading, lending, borrowing, and fundraising with USDC. Take USDC into the transformative world of finance and be your own bank. The possibilities are just beginning.
An open money platform
Build your product with an uber-money API that’s global, open-source, interoperable and free to use. Developers trust USDC as a core building block for their apps to deliver real-time payments, trading, and financial services to their users. Dream big with USDC.
USDC is transforming finance
USDC is part of a global ecosystem that spans traditional and crypto commerce. Created by Circle, a regulated fintech, USDC is a trusted, widely accepted, and highly liquid digital dollar. It’s crypto that’s held to a higher standard.
FAQ
Is USDC a cryptocurrency?
USDC is a fully-reserved stablecoin, which is a type of cryptocurrency, or digital asset. Unlike other cryptocurrencies that fluctuate in price, USDC is designed to maintain price equivalence to the U.S. dollar. USDC is a stable store of value that benefits from the speed and security of blockchain technology.
How can I trust that USDC will always be equivalent to a dollar?
For every $1 of USDC in circulation, Circle holds $1 of USD. USDC is fully-backed by cash and short-dated U.S. treasuries, and these reserves are held in the custody of leading financial institutions.
What does it mean for USDC to be "minted" or "burned"?
Businesses can open a Circle Account to exchange U.S. dollars for USDC. When a business deposits USD into their Circle Account, Circle issues the equivalent amount of USDC to the business. The process of issuing new USDC is known as “minting”. This process creates new USDC in circulation.
Similarly, when a business wants to exchange their USDC for U.S. dollars, the business can deposit USDC into their Circle Account and request to receive U.S. dollars for free. This process of redeeming USDC is known as “burning”. This process takes USDC out of circulation.
When an individual swaps U.S. dollars for USDC on a digital asset exchange, the exchange will provide the balance of USDC it has on-hand to the individual. If the exchange needs more USDC to fulfill the swap, the exchange will use its Circle Account to mint more USDC.
What do I need to access USDC?
A fast and easy way for businesses to access USDC is to open a free Circle Account.
Individuals can access USDC quickly from digital asset exchanges like Coinbase, FTX.us, Crypto.com, and Binance.
Developers can start building on USDC today by accessing our GitHub repo. Additional resources are available from our USDC for Developers page.
How many blockchains does USDC run on?
USDC lives natively on 8 blockchains: Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, TRON, Algorand, Stellar, Flow, and Hedera – with more native integrations expected this year and beyond.
USDC has also been bridged to Polygon, Fantom, NEAR, Arbitrum, the Cosmos ecosystem, and many more emerging blockchains.
For more details, check out our USDC for Developers page.
How is USDC different from a CBDC (central bank digital currency?
USDC is issued by Circle, a company in the private sector, while a theoretical CBDC would be issued by a government. While most CBDCs are only in the research phase, USDC exists today and is widely used by millions of people around the world. Circle has developed the technology to enable USDC to run on over eight public blockchains, with open-source and private market innovation driving rapid progress in dollar digital currency models.
CBDCs are being designed to solve many of the challenges already solved by USDC, such as making payments faster, cheaper, and inclusive. But CBDCs come with risks, including potentially harming individual privacy, giving governments the ability to deplatform people from their money, and creating massive “honey pots” of personal information.
Read more about Circle’s insights on the Fed’s CBDC discussion.