Circle’s USDC Joins Tether as Second Largest Stablecoin on the Algorand Blockchain

Following a partnership between USDC stablecoin issuer, Circle, and the Algorand Foundation, the Algorand blockchain is now home to two of the largest stablecoins in the crypto industry. Tether (USDt) launched on Algorand in February.

The newly announced partnership will enable Circle customers to use USDC to leverage the Algorand blockchain to move funds between traditional banks and card networks easily. Using Algorand, USDC users will enjoy immediate transaction finality – confirmed within seconds – making it one of the fastest and most secure way to send money around the world.

Circle’s USDC launched in late 2018 with much funfair and had some of the industry’s most prominent players, including Coinbase as backers. At the time of writing, the stablecoin has an issued market cap above $930 million, making the second-largest stablecoin, only second to USDt.

Commenting on the development, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire suggested that “the combination of USDC and Circle Platform Services with the Algorand blockchain will create a foundation for developing a wide range of scalable, secure and compliant financial applications.”

The partners are now set to promote the unique benefits of Algorand-based USDC, with Circle also promising to release in Q3, an API that will make it seamless for USDC users to swap between Ethereum-based USDC and Algorand-based USDC.

Meanwhile, the latest development continues what are exciting times for the Algorand ecosystem, with the blockchain also home to SOV, the central bank-backed digital currency launched by the Marshall Islands’ government.

Earlier this year, leading crypto exchanges, Kraken and Blockchain.com also listed Algorand‘s native token ALGO for trading on their platforms.

At the time of writing, Algorand (ALGO) which had a market cap of $182 million was trading at $0.236 per coin. The altcoin’s 4% decrease on the 24-hour chart mirrors the general decline that the crypto market has seen in the hours leading up to press time.