Glossary
USDC
A US-dollar stablecoin issued by Circle, backed 1:1 by short-term US Treasuries and cash held at regulated US custodians. Widely used and audited monthly.
USDC, issued by Circle since 2018, is one of the two dominant fiat-backed stablecoins. Reserves are held in short-term US Treasuries and cash at regulated US custodians, audited monthly and attested by Deloitte (previously Grant Thornton).
USDC briefly broke its peg to roughly USD 0.87 in March 2023 after Circle disclosed that part of its reserves were held at Silicon Valley Bank during its collapse. The peg fully recovered within days once the FDIC backstopped depositors.