Circle’s USDC Economy Report shows that a significant number of on-chain wallets now hold USDC, which grew nearly 60% in the last year.
Global technology firm and issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle, has released its second State of the USDC Economy Report titled ‘Welcome to the Era of Open Money.’
The report provides an in-depth analysis of the burgeoning internet financial system, with a focus on the concept of open money and the increasing significance of programmable payments. The report signals a profound paradigm shift for global finance, in which financial value flows as seamlessly, cost-effectively, and instantaneously as other forms of data on the internet.
The report highlights the following key factors:
- The number of USDC wallets with a balance of at least $10 has grown 59% in the past year alone to a total of about 2.7 million.
- Since its introduction in 2018, USDC has been used to settle over $12 trillion in blockchain transactions.
- Circle facilitated more than $197 billion of transfers between the banking system and blockchain networks through minting and redeeming in 2023.
- USDC facilitated 595 million transactions from January through the end of November 2023.
- Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), which helps reduce friction, increase safety and security, and reduce costs when sending USDC from one blockchain to another, has facilitated 66,500 transactions since release in April 2023.
- USDC’s open technology is available on 15 different blockchains.
- USDC settles faster and cheaper than traditional forms of payments, but it is also cheaper. The average cost per transaction with USDC was less than 1% of the transaction on Ethereum. On other blockchain networks, such as Solana, it was less than a tenth of a percent.
“This year’s report sheds light on the transformative power of USDC in enhancing financial inclusion and access, as well as our efforts to build the most widely-used open money network in the world,” said Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder and CEO of Circle.
“While we are still in the early stages of this mission, this year’s State of the USDC Economy Report details a set of unequivocal indicators for growing momentum. As regulatory clarity for stablecoins continues to emerge across every major financial market center, and as mainstream financial institutions, fintechs, internet firms and enterprises begin adopting this technology, USDC is poised to play a central role in the new internet financial system.”
The report also features case studies with prominent financial service providers and technology leaders, including Visa, MoneyGram, Grab, Nubank, Stripe, Worldpay from FIS. Moreover, it also highlights how USDC is disrupting remittances, cross-border payments, aid disbursement and charitable giving, as well as how it is providing a stable store of value to mitigate the adverse effects of high inflation.
“For over five years, USDC has been at the forefront of driving world-scale open payments to lower the bottom rung of economic mobility. Together with forward-looking regulators and global partners, we are paving the way towards a more equitable, inclusive, and promising future,” said Dante Disparte, Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy.
View the report here for more insights.
