You may have already seen it in the market update this morning; US-listed crypto exchange Coinbase and Circle, issuer of popular stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), have redefined their relationship. Coinbase has acquired a minority stake in Circle and the consortium originally responsible for the second-largest stablecoin is being dissolved. You can read exactly how the story works in this article.
Bitcoin exchange Coinbase is entering a new era
Few people in the crypto landscape were aware of the existence of the Center Consortium. This was a partnership between Circle and Coinbase that started in 2018. The consortium played a critical role in the design, development and issuance of USDC.
The two crypto powerhouses announced in identical blogs yesterday that the Center Consortium “will no longer exist as a separate entity.” As part of this move, Circle will fully in-house USDC issuance and administration.
Today Coinbase and @Circle announced some updates for USDC. Stablecoins will be a key component of a new, upgraded financial system, and we look forward to helping unlock additional supply opportunities and grow the USDC ecosystem. 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/twkNRRVd0T
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) August 21, 2023
Circle will therefore have more responsibilities, including smart contract retention Key and regulatory compliance.
The announcement also states that interest income from the dollar reserves backing USDC tokens will continue to be split between the two parties, however this split will now be equal.
The crypto companies attributed the move to greater regulatory clarity:
“Circle and Coinbase agree that with increasing regulatory clarity for stablecoins in the United States and around the world, the need for a separate governing body like Center is no longer necessary.”
As previously mentioned, Coinbase now also holds a minority stake in Circle. As described in the blog posts, Coinbase and Circle will now have “an even stronger strategic and economic focus on the future of the financial system.” Coinbase’s involvement in Circle has not been disclosed.
USDC is expanding into new blockchains
Finally, it was also announced that USDC will be launched on six new blockchains between September and October. This will make the stablecoin accessible on a total of fifteen different networks.
USDC is currently available on the following nine blockchains: Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Algorand (ALGO), Arbitrum (ARB), Avalanche (AVAX), Flow (FLOW), Hedera (HBAR), Stellar (XLM), and TRON (TRX).
Which networks will be added to this list has not yet been determined.