Circle wanted to create a financial revolution. Instead, it’s losing the stablecoin wars to Tether

Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC, faced a crisis when $3.3 billion of its reserves were stuck at Silicon Valley Bank, causing USDC to lose its $1 peg and lose market share to rival stablecoin Tether, revealing the challenges and shortcomings of Circle's ambitions to reshape the financial system with its dollar-backed token.

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Relevant topic timeline:

8/21/2023

Coinbase Gets a Stake in Stablecoin Operator Circle and USDC Adds 6 New Blockchains

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is acquiring a minority stake in Circle Internet Financial, dissolving their partnership and bringing the stablecoin USD Coin fully in-house, while also adding native support for USDC on six additional blockchains, bringing the total to 15.

8/23/2023

USDC to be available on 15 blockchains after adding 6—including Base, Optimism, and Polygon PoS—over next 2 months

Summary: USD Coin (USDC) will be supported on six additional blockchains, including Cosmos, NEAR, Optimism, Polkadot, and Polygon PoS, as Circle aims to boost adoption for the stablecoin and differentiate it from its competitors.

8/25/2023

Crypto Biz: Coinbase-Circle re-alignment, Binance fiat hurdles, and USDC at Shopify

Summary: Coinbase and Circle have dissolved the Centre Consortium due to regulatory clarity issues surrounding stablecoins, with Coinbase taking an equity stake in Circle and Circle assuming enhanced responsibilities for the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin; Binance.US partners with MoonPay to use Tether (USDT) as its new "base asset" for transactions, while Binance faces challenges with fiat withdrawals in Europe; Shopify now accepts USDC payments on its platform, and Solana Pay plans to add additional altcoins; China launches a blockchain-powered data exchange with over 300 participating enterprises.

8/26/2023

USDC Market Cap Plummets to 2-Year Low–Here's 4 Reasons Why - Decrypt

Circle's USD Coin (USDC) has experienced a significant drop in market cap due to factors such as the depegging event earlier this year, rising interest rates, and differences in issuance models compared to Tether's USDT stablecoin, which recently reached a new high in market cap at $83 billion.

8/27/2023

OnlyFans Purchased $20 Million of ETH

Tether (USDT) is the world's largest stablecoin with over $66 billion in market capitalization, despite controversies surrounding its collateral and reserve holdings.

8/29/2023

USDC will launch natively on Base network ‘next week’ — Jeremy Allaire

Circle will soon launch a native version of its USD Coin (USDC) on the Base network, eliminating the need for the bridged version currently used by users.

9/7/2023

USDC Issuer Circle Responds to EU’s Proposal To Expand Crypto Regulatory Oversight - The Daily Hodl

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle has responded to proposed changes to the EU's financial crime policies, expressing concerns about the lack of clarity in the terminology used and arguing that technology does not necessarily increase money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

9/14/2023

Circle Expands to Asia With Singapore Hub to Bring Stablecoins and Web3 to Region's Payments

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is focusing on Asia as it sees stablecoins as a way to improve cross-border payments for businesses in the region.

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Posted 9/6/2023, 11:00:00 AM