Circle, the company behind the second-largest stablecoin in the world, has announced the end of its support for the TRON network.
Although the minting of new USDC on TRON will be stopped effective immediately, support for the stablecoin on this network will continue until February 2025.
According to a blog post recently published by Circle, users of USDC on the TRON network have a year at their disposal to exchange their tokens for USDC on other networks or for regular USD. This can be done either directly with Circle or with one of the many exchanges that offer support for the stablecoin.
“As part of our risk management framework, Circle continually assesses the suitability of all blockchains where USDC is supported. Our decision to discontinue support for USDC on TRON is the result of an enterprise-wide approach that involved the business organization, compliance and other functions across our company.
This action aligns with our efforts to ensure that USDC remains trusted, transparent and safe – characteristics that make it the leading regulated digital dollar on the internet.”
TRON, the blockchain created by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, and its native token, TRX, are crucial parts of the SEC fraud allegations against their creator, according to Bloomberg. Sun has denied the allegations, replying that they “lack merit.”
Although Circle has refrained from getting into the specific reasons for its withdrawal of support for the network, it’s likely that the allegations – along with a recent wave of exploits on the TRON network – played a significant part in the stablecoin issuers’ decision.
Just last month, a report from Reflexivity Research indicated that TRON had overtaken Ethereum in the USDT use case department by 8%.
This leading position was also complemented by USDT’s contract share on the network, with about 95.6% of all contracts being tied to the most-used stablecoin in the world.
In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, USDC will no longer compete against its main rival on this particular network.
Currently, USDCs’ total market cap sits at just over $28 billion, according to CoinGecko – steep decline from the ATH of $56 billion prior to the collapse of SVB. Circle has also recently filed for an IPO, although the company did not disclose the specifics.