Circle Announces Support for USDC Stablecoin on Algorand Blockchain

The Algorand Foundation has announced that the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin will be launched on the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain.

The integration will allow customers using Circle APIs or Circle Business Accounts to convert funds from their bank account or card network into stable tokens on the Algorand blockchain.

USDC currently ranks as the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, and the 19th-biggest crypto asset with a capitalization of nearly $930 million. The coin was developed as a joint venture comprising Circle and major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.  

USDC is coming to Algorand

USDC has purportedly issued more than $2.5 billion to date, with the stablecoin being used to power more than $50 billion in transactions.

“Growth in mainstream financial use cases is driving more demand for high-throughput payments and finance-optimized blockchain infrastructure,” said Circle co-founder and CEO, Jeremy Allaire.

“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,” Allaire added.

Algorand and Circle target institutions

The partnership will see Algorand and Circle promote ALGO-based USDC as a base-currency for institutions looking to build scalable financial applications on public chains.

Circle’s head of product, Joao Riginatto, told Cointelegraph demand for USDC was growing. “With the recent launch of Circle’s Platform Services business, we’ve seen increased demand for the use of USDC in a broader range of payments and finance applications,” he said. Riginatto noted that Algorand was making significant progress on blockchain technology purpose-built for supporting scalable payments and compliant financial applications:

“We saw a clear opportunity to work together to advance the use of stablecoins as a mainstream technology used by enterprises and financial institutions.”  

Fangfang Chen, COO of the Algorand Foundation, stated: “As more financial institutions and enterprises look to build decentralized financial applications, they need a well-suited infrastructure and a compliant, regulated, and widely accepted stablecoin.” 

Chen said that Algorand hopes to attract further stablecoin integrations in future.

Circle will also provide an API allowing payments between USDC on the Algorand and Ethereum blockchains.

Last week, a historic chess match between grandmaster Sergey Karjakin and Algorand founder Silvio Micali was recorded on ALGO blockchain.

This article has been updated with comments from Algorand and Circle.