USDC (USDC)
USDC is a US dollar stablecoin issued by Circle. The issuer states that it is fully reserved, redeemable one for one by approved account holders, and reported against attestations published by an accounting firm. Those terms are the issuer’s, and the issuer can change them.
Also called: USD Coin
USDC circulates on several chains and is widely used for settlement between businesses, on exchanges, and as the dollar leg of crypto-fiat flows. Direct redemption with the issuer is available to account holders it has onboarded, typically institutions. Everyone else exits through the market, at whatever the market pays that day.
Circle publishes regular attestations over the reserves by an accounting firm. Those reports are a form of proof of reserves and carry the limits of the format: they report on assets as at a date, under a defined scope, and they are not an audit of the issuer. The terms of the token, as with any stablecoin, are the issuer’s to set and to revise.
In practice
Reserve composition and redemption rights are set by the issuer and can change. Check the current disclosures, and the redemption terms that apply to your own account, rather than relying on a general description of the token.
Commonly confused with
| Term | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Tether (USDT) | Both are dollar stablecoins; they differ in issuer, in reserve reporting practice, and in who can redeem directly rather than sell into the market. |
See also
- StablecoinA stablecoin is a crypto-asset designed to hold a steady value against a reference, almost always a fiat currency such as the US dollar. How that steadiness is supported differs sharply from one issuer to the next, and so does what a holder can actually redeem.
- Proof of ReservesProof of reserves is published evidence that an issuer or exchange holds the assets it says it holds — typically a third-party verification report on holdings as at a single date, sometimes paired with a cryptographic exercise letting customers check that their own balance was counted. It is not an audit.
- Tether (USDT)USDT, or Tether, is the largest US dollar stablecoin by trading volume and the one most often used in peer-to-peer and emerging-market corridors. It is issued by Tether and is a claim on that issuer, not on a bank or a central bank.
- Fiat On-Ramp and Off-RampA fiat on-ramp is the point where money leaves the banking system and becomes crypto; an off-ramp is the point where it comes back. Both are conversion and settlement points, and both sit on the boundary where banking rules meet crypto rules.
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Regulatory information checked: 22/Sep/2026