- USDC is launching on six new blockchains including Polygon, Optimism, Polkadot, and Base.
- The new additions would make the stablecoin available on 15 blockchains in total.
- The decision comes a day after Coinbase acquired a stake in USD Coin issuer Circle Internet Financial.
- The stablecoin was brought fully in-house by Circle after dissolving the Centre Consortium.
USD Coin, the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, will soon be available on six new blockchains. Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the USDC, is set to launch the stablecoin on additional blockchains, including NEAR, Polkadot, and Base. The new additions would make USD Coin available on a total of 15 blockchains.
USDC Hopes To Boost Adoption With New Blockchains
Citing people familiar with the matter, The Block reported earlier today that Circle plans to launch USDC on Optimism, Polygon PoS, Base, Polkadot, NEAR, and Cosmos via the Noble network. The stablecoin is currently available on Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Stellar, Algorand, Tron, Flow, Solana and Hedera.
The extension to the new blockchains is expected to be announced later today. USD Coin’s extension is expected to provide a much-needed boost to the stablecoin’s adoption, whose market share has declined considerably this year. USDC’s market capitalization has lost more than $18 billion since the beginning of 2023, marking a year-to-date (YTD) decline of over 42%.
The report of USDC’s debut on additional blockchains comes a day after American crypto giant Coinbase announced that it was acquiring a minority stake in Circle. The Centre Consortium, which was responsible for governing the USDC, would simultaneously be dissolved, while Circle would bring the stablecoin fully in-house.
Circle and Coinbase’s new partnership came amid major developments in the broader stablecoin market. Apart from competing with the world’s largest stablecoin Tether (USDT), USD Coin would now have to compete with PayPal’s recently unveiled stablecoin PYUSD. The latest developments have led to a 44% hike in USD Coin’s daily trading volume.