The Celo Foundation has announced that Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) will be launching directly on the Celo blockchain. This move aims to expand Celo’s use cases for real-world assets and improve the convertibility of USDC into fiat currencies.
USDC will join CELO, Celo’s native proof-of-stake governance token, as the blockchain transitions from being an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer-1 chain to an Ethereum layer-2 protocol. The Celo community will vote on a proposal to make USDC the gas currency for the ecosystem.
Mento Lab is already issuing stablecoins like cUSD, cEuro, cREAL (pegged to the Brazilian real), and eXOF (pegged to the West African CFA franc) on Celo. Celo positions itself as part of the regenerative finance movement and is both carbon-neutral and mobile-first. Its focus on mobile technology aims to improve the user experience in emerging economies. In September, the Opera web platform launched its MiniPay wallet on Celo, targeting African users with mobile phones. Shamus Noonan, Circle’s senior business development manager, stated:
“The integration of USDC will also give institutional and enterprise users access to the Circle Mint on/off-ramp, which will enable greater activity on Celo.”
The Celo Foundation stated that the integration of USDC will provide institutional and enterprise users with access to the Circle Mint on/off-ramp, thereby facilitating increased activity on the Celo blockchain.
USDC is the second-largest stablecoin, with a market cap of $26.5 billion, following Tether (USDT), which has a market cap of $96.1 billion. It was reported that USDC filed for an initial public offering in the United States in mid-January.
Circle has been expanding its global presence, receiving conditional registration as a virtual assets service provider in France in December. Additionally, it partnered with Japanese financial services firm SBI to introduce USDC in Japan. Circle has also partnered with global payments processor Visa since 2020 and expanded cooperation using USDC on Ethereum and Solana in September.
However, Circle has faced allegations of connections to money laundering, which the company has vehemently denied.
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