Circle launches the USDC, a dollar-backed stablecoin

[Shawn Knight]

Bottom line: Stablecoins ease concerns regarding wild fluctuations in valuation but like other cryptocurrencies, a frontrunner or two will need to emerge for the concept to gain widespread adoption.

Mobile payment platform Circle Internet Financial Limited, or Circle for short, is the latest passenger to punch its ticket aboard the stablecoin express.

Four months after introducing their dollar-backed stablecoin, Circle co-founders Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville on Wednesday officially launched the USD//Coin, also known as USDC.

Described on its website as the power of the dollar at the speed of crypto, the stablecoin – like those recently launched by Gemini and Paxos – is pegged 1:1 to the greenback. This ratio is meant to ensure that crazy fluctuations in value typically associated with cryptocurrencies – good or bad – won’t impact your holdings.

Circle says its ERC-20 token was developed alongside the CENTRE open source consortium which helps to define and enforce standards and policies for fiat stablecoins. In fact, it’s the first of several fiat tokens CENTRE expects to deliver. Circle notes that commercial issuers of USDC, as per CENTRE requirements, must:

• Be licensed to handle electronic money, such as banking, money transmission or trust charters
• Have audited AML and Compliance programs that meet FATF standards
• Back all tokens on a fully reserved basis and provide monthly published proof of reserves attested to by certified public auditors
• Support fungible exchange and redemption of USDC tokens from other authorized issuer members
• Meet other reporting and review requirements established by CENTRE

USDC is immediately available for use on Circle Poloniex and Circle Trade with support expected today from more than 20 additional companies.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/76636-circle-launches-usdc-dollar-backed-stablecoin.html

 

[ChrisH1]

The only advantage this offers over actual dollars given the speed and efficiency of today's banking transfers is the anonymity, which is of little value to anyone other than someone with criminal content imho.

 

[Reachable]

The only advantage this offers over actual dollars given the speed and efficiency of today's banking transfers is the anonymity, which is of little value to anyone other than someone with criminal content imho.

There have been crowd-funded journalists who have been banned by PayPal for presenting 'unapproved' content. Cryptocurrency enables them to have a source of income. This relates, of course, to only a small number of people, but it is vitally important to not let censorship take away voices. These stablecoins would presumably remove hesitation on the part of many more members of the public from getting involved.

 

[VBKing]

There have been crowd-funded journalists who have been banned by PayPal for presenting 'unapproved' content. Cryptocurrency enables them to have a source of income. This relates, of course, to only a small number of people, but it is vitally important to not let censorship take away voices. These stablecoins would presumably remove hesitation on the part of many more members of the public from getting involved.

What the he## are you talking about? Nobody is making a new currency just to help a few people or whatever you're rambling about.

 

[Reachable]

What the he## are you talking about? Nobody is making a new currency just to help a few people or whatever you're rambling about.

The anonymity, as it turns out, is not just of value for criminals. I regarded cryptocurrency as a scam, but now I see that it can have some socially useful benefit. I don't know what kind of payoff the creators of these stablecoins are hoping to get.