The crypto community has welcomed a new stablecoin (USDC) courtesy of crypto-based startup Circle, and with authority stamped all over it, there may be a chance that we have finally landed Tether’s biggest competitor.
Circle announced the launch of the stablecoin which is pegged to the U.S dollar on Wednesday and added that it would be used right away on the Poloniex Exchange as well as on Circle Trade. It’s interesting to note that the adoption of the stablecoin will probably be swifter than when Tether was unveiled in 2014 and with no controversy.
Tether is seen as controversial because of its link with cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, who many still believe are issuing the tokens. Some have even suggested that Tether is being used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin, and while we cannot prove this to be true, we cannot prove it to be entirely false.
Circle, the crypto startup that just unveiled the USDC is backed by global investment company Goldman Sachs and many other notable firms.. Around $110 million was reportedly raised by Circle in May for the launch of the stablecoin. This funding round was led by Bitmain, the largest producers of cryptocurrency mining chips.
Circle revealed in its announcement that DigiFinex, CoinEx, KuCoin, and OKCoin are going to list the coin soon. Also, thirty other partners including BitGo, Cobo, Coinbase Wallet, and imToken are expected to add support for the stablecoin.
USDC tokens are designed to facilitate easy transfer from fiat to crypto and are ERC-20 compliant. Individuals and institutions who want to buy USDC only have to deposit the dollar amount into their bank accounts and then convert them to USDC on Circle’s exchange.
Converting USD to USDC will be free on Circle platforms while it will only cost $0.1 to redeem USDC tokens for U.S. dollars.
Circle is also expecting to set the standard for the stablecoin by launching a new consortium called “CENTRE.” This will set out requirements for licensing, compliance, and proof of reserves. This will allow USDC to solve the problem of auditing which was the breaking point for Tether until it released a controversial audit in June.
The Circle CEO has told Forbes that USDC is unique among stablecoins because “it’s going to have broad industry support right out of the gate.”
Being backed by many of the biggest contributors to the crypto ecosystem should be the stepping stone for the USDC to excel in the coming months or years. Also, the fact that there is no controversy surrounding the token is a huge bonus!