USD Coin (USDC) is a U.S.-dollar-denominated stablecoin issued by regulated Circle affiliates. Outside the European Economic Area (EEA), USDC is issued by Circle Internet Financial, LLC; within the EEA, USDC is issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS as an e-money token under the MiCA framework. Each unit is intended to be redeemable at 1:1 for U.S. dollars, subject to applicable terms.

USDC is fully reserved. Reserves comprise cash held at regulated financial institutions and assets held in the Circle Reserve Fund, an SEC-registered government money market fund managed by BlackRock with custody at BNY Mellon. Circle states that reserves are held for the benefit of USDC holders and separately from Circle’s operating funds. Circle publishes weekly disclosures of reserve composition and issuance/redemption flows and provides monthly third-party assurance (attestation) by a Big Four accounting firm that reserves meet or exceed USDC in circulation.

USDC exists natively on multiple public blockchains. Circle maintains the canonical contract addresses and identifiers for every supported mainnet and testnet, and the token operates as a standard smart-contract asset on each network (for example, ERC-20 on Ethereum and SPL on Solana). Users should reference Circle’s official contracts list when interacting with USDC on any chain.

Holders located outside the EEA can redeem directly with Circle only if they have an eligible Circle Mint account; otherwise they access fiat conversion through third-party platforms. Within the EEA, the USDC MiCA White Paper and Redemption Policy set out holders’ rights, including redemption at par value subject to verification and compliance checks. USDC does not confer interest or other returns from the reserves to holders.

USDC is a private-sector digital dollar distinct from a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Circle describes USDC as issued through its regulated affiliates, whereas a CBDC would be issued by a central bank.