Circle Debuts USDC on Avalanche to Push DeFi

Global internet finance platform Circle on Tuesday (Dec. 14) announced native support for USDC on the Avalanche public blockchain, giving the digital currency a presence on the eco-friendly, decentralized smart contracts platform with low fees and near-instant finality.

USDC is the world’s fastest-growing dollar digital currency, with more than $40 billion in circulation as of December 2021.

The integration of USDC onto Avalanche “will create more seamless transaction and payment options for developers and participants in Avalanche’s exponentially growing, interconnected ecosystem of DeFi protocols, enterprise applications, NFT marketplaces and more,” the announcement said.

Through the initiative, customers can deposit, withdraw, send and receive payments and settle transactions with USDC on Avalanche. Developers can access Circle’s suite of developer APIs, updated to support USDC on Avalanche.

“Support for USDC on Avalanche comes at an exciting and pivotal moment for the growing, multibillion dollar DeFi market,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO and co-founder of Circle. “With USDC as the leading dollar digital currency for the decentralized economy, this integration will be instrumental for developers and communities looking to participate in one of the fastest, organically growing ecosystems in crypto.”

Avalanche is compatible with Ethereum smart contracts and tooling, enabling Ethereum users and developers to access and launch decentralized apps and support for USDC will be available on Avalanche’s C-Chain, the smart contract blockchain for ethereum-compatible applications and assets.

Circle also supports USDC across the Ethereum, Algorand, Solana, Stellar, TRON and Hedera blockchains, in addition to Avalanche.

Related: Circle Uses USDC to Make $10.5M Investment in UK Crowdfunding Platform Crowdcube

Last month, Circle contributed $10.5 million to U.K. firm Crowdcube’s $13.5 million fundraising effort. In addition to its USDC ownership, Circle also leads startup funding platform SeedInvest. The total number of Circle accounts estimated to grow 229% to more than 30,000 in 2023, according to PYMNTS.

Crowdcube is the largest startup fundraising platform in the U.K. Its strategic partnership with Circle will help accelerate global startup fundraising, from seed stage to public offering.

Allaire told PYMNTS in September that the $27 billion market value for USDC stablecoin was an indication that the digital asset was too big to ignore and that there was enough room for myriad digital assets to grow.