USD Coin coming to Stellar
Stellar CEO and executive director Denelle Dixon announced that USD Coin is coming to Stellar (Photo: Stellar Foundation)
Cryptocurrencies

USD Coin coming to Stellar network

The addition of the second-largest stablecoin adds an important source of liquidity to the international payments network

By  / October 15, 2020 /

The second largest stablecoin is coming to the Stellar blockchain, USD Coin’s Centre Consortium announced on Oct. 15. 

USDC will become available on Stellar in the first quarter of 2021, adding an important source of liquidity to the international payments network.

The Stellar network will be the third blockchain to offer native support for USDC, joining Algorand and Ethereum.

“The addition of USDC to Stellar will allow us to continue to expand our global reach in pursuit of this mission while opening up new avenues for growth and innovation for the developers and businesses building on the network,” said Stellar Development Foundation CEO and Executive Director Denelle Dixon in a statement. “We look forward to bringing such a reputable and engaged USD asset to the Stellar network.”

USDC has enjoyed rapid growth this year, quintupling its market cap from about $500 million to more than $2.8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. That still puts the dollar-pegged stablecoin well behind tether (USDT), which has grown from $4.1 billion to $15.7 billion in circulation in 2020. 

“Stellar is a leader in cross-border payments, and with the rapid global expansion USDC has been experiencing, we are excited to launch USDC on Stellar,” said Circle chairman and CEO Jeremy Allaire. “We value the increased interoperability and wide range of developers that the Stellar network brings to the table, and look forward to seeing how adding a strong and stable USD anchor to Stellar grows its ecosystem and its importance as a platform driving global financial inclusion.”

Circle spent much of 2019 shedding businesses to focus its attention on USDC, which it created in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

The Stellar Development Foundation had its own issues in 2019, notably burning 55 billion of its 105 billion lumens, saying the move meant that “the number of lumens we hold now aligns better with our mission.” The burn did not do much to help lumen’s price, which rose by about $260 million after the $3.5 billion burn.

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Leo Jakobson, Modern Consensus editor-in-chief, is a New York-based journalist who has traveled the world writing about incentive travel. He has also covered consumer and employee engagement, small business, the East Coast side of the Internet boom and bust, and New York City crime, nightlife, and politics. Disclosure: Jakobson has put some 401k money into Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.