• The second largest stablecoin on the crypto market, USD Coin (USDC), went live today on the Stellar blockchain.
• Users will have instant access to the stablecoin on Stellar-based decentralized exchanges and Stellar-supported wallets.

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) published a press release this morning about the long-awaited launch of the USD Coin (USDC) on Stellar. Although the blog post was deleted after a few minutes, it is still available via the browser cache. In addition, Stellar blockchain data confirms the launch.

Since the launch was announced for February, the Stellar community has shown great anticipation for the event. This has been noticeably reflected in an XLM’s price rally. As of press time, XLM has posted a 128% gain over the last 30 days and is currently trading at $0.32.

According to the SDF blog post, users will have instant access to the stablecoin on Stellar-based decentralized exchanges and Stellar-supported wallets: Lobstr, Solar, StellarPort, StellarX, and StellarTerm. One Reddit user shared the screenshot below to illustrate how the swap between XLM and USDC looks on the Lobstr wallet:

In addition, SDF stated that USDC will be tradeable across Stellar’s ecosystem of more than 9,000 assets including stablecoins like NGNT, BRLT, ARST, EURT, TZS and ZAR.

The integration brings immediate value to the Stellar ecosystem, connecting and creating new business opportunities for existing Stellar-based companies, USDC’s existing partner network and future FinTechs looking to optimize payments, especially cross-border transactions. Businesses, developers, and retail users can learn about how to immediately get started leveraging Stellar USDC at stellar.org/USDC.

Developers will also have access to the stablecoin through an API service provided by Circle, the parent company of the USD Coin issuer. This service is free and will allow businesses to accept payments at scale, issue programmable payouts, build marketplaces, and soon, receive yield on top of their balance.

In addition, Circle’s Multichain Authorized Distributors Program will allow for free swaps between blockchains. Also, with the Circle Account, businesses around the world can connect bank accounts and mint, redeem, store, send, and receive Stellar USDC.

A new era for Stellar and USDC

The SDF also revealed that there are companies such as FinClusive and Stably that have native integration to provide liquidity for USDC-related services. In parallel, 6 additional platforms are working to integrate USDC into their payment operations. SDF CEO Denelle Dixon stated the following about the cooperation:

This integration is going to be a powerhouse for the growth of the Stellar ecosystem and a catalyst for achieving our mission of creating equitable access to the global financial system. It presents significant business opportunities for both startups and existing companies to leverage the respective strengths of USDC and Stellar.

As reported by CNF, the SDF unveiled its cooperation with the CENTRE consortium in October last year. The consortium consists of Circle and Coinbase and its expansion to Stellar is part of a strategy to make USD Coin less dependent on Ethereum’s blockchain.

The USDC diversification strategy put forward by CENTRE will bring the stablecoin to Algorand’s blockchain, among others. On the integration with Stellar, CENTRE’s CEO David Puth said:

We are very pleased to bring Stellar into the Centre network. The Stellar and Centre partnership will further enhance USDC’s growth while strengthening the Stellar ecosystem.

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