FTX and Circle Partner to Improve USDC Stablecoin Support

By Ekin Genç

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX on Friday bolstered its support for USD Coin (USDC) through a partnership with Circle, the co-creator of USDC.

The partnership will allow the customers of FTX, as well as those of its subsidiary, Blockfolio, to use ACH, international wire transfers and credit and debit cards to fund their US dollar accounts and have funds instantly settled in USDC. Through the ‘fiat-to-USDC’ route, customers can transfer the stablecoin on Ethereum and Solana.

USDC is a dollar-pegged stablecoin designed to be valued at $1 USD. It was jointly created by Circle and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in September 2018 and is maintained by a consortium called CENTRE. Its circulation has grown from 400 million in early 2020 to over 15 billion today.

USDC is registered with and regulated by the US anti-financial crime watchdog FinCEN. It’s also audited by Grant Thornton, a leading accounting firm.

“Circle has been a pioneer in making fiat work on blockchains for nearly eight years and has built deep capabilities to ease payments in crypto,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, Co-Founder CEO of FTX in a statement.

USDC has many competitors, all pegged to the US dollar. The largest stablecoin by market cap is Tether, which once claimed to have a real dollar equivalent in the bank for every Tether in circulation. That claim has increasingly come under scrutiny; it disclosed this week that it holds 76% of its reserves in cash and cash equivalents.

Other stablecoins include Gemini dollar, True USD, and Paxos.

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