USD Coin (USDC) is a stablecoin developed by Centre Consortium, a partnership between Circle and Coinbase that was formed in 2018 with the mission “to provide the governance and standards for the future digital financial ecosystem.” USDC, their first project together, was developed so that there could be a layer of trust and transparency for digital payments all over the world.
USDC is a stablecoin that is fully backed by US dollar reserves—meaning that its value stays at 1.00 USD per USDC. Behind Tether (USDT), USDC is the second-largest stablecoin on the market with a market cap of 46,055,381,509 USD at the time of writing.
USDC’s primary function is that of a centralized stablecoin, meaning it’s mostly used as a financially transparent fiat-to-blockchain solution. Basically, it’s meant to be used as a representation of a US dollar in the cryptocurrency world.
With stablecoins like USDC, users can experience and have easy access to finance that’s truly decentralized. It’s the best of both worlds: all the benefits of a cryptocurrency—like transparency, lower fees, and quicker transaction speeds—and access to participate in global financial transactions.
At this point, you’re probably wondering: how can a cryptocurrency like USDC have a market cap of over 46 million USD and keep its value of 1 USD?
The answer to this question lies solely in USDC’s utility. Because its market value stays at around 1 USD, its real-world value is what entices and draws people in. This is especially seen in its real-use cases.
Like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the market, USDC has real-use cases that everyday people can take advantage of. Here are a few examples of some of the most popular ones:
USDC and USDT are functionally the same in concept: each stablecoin is backed by the US dollar in a 1:1 ratio. However, their main differences lie in the entities or companies that issue them.
Source: MoonPay
With USDT’s four-year headstart, it’s been a more popular stablecoin and has maintained the highest consistent trading volume. However, USDC has been making strides in closing the gap and is now available on many of the same blockchains as USDT.
Some also believe that USDC is more transparent since its reserves are regularly reviewed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
With USDC now officially available on Paxful, you’ll be able to enjoy all of its benefits and buy and sell USDC on the marketplace. Here’s how to do it:
If you already have BTC, ETH, or USDT in your Paxful account, you can easily convert them into USDC by going into your wallet and clicking on the three dots (…) beside the Send and Receive buttons and use our built-in converter.
With USDC joining the roster of Paxful’s supported cryptocurrencies, you now have access to the top four cryptocurrencies on the market: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC).
Source: CoinMarketCap
(all values are as of October 10, 2022, at 5:30PM)
Now, you can move your money and reap the benefits of each cryptocurrency in any way you want.
Paxful is a marketplace where people can buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly with each other. You can get digital money instantly and pay with debit, credit, cash, and any currency.
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