Today Circle and the CENTRE open source consortium introduced a service to tokenize US dollars and use those dollars over public blockchains on the internet: USD//Coin, also known as USDC. Individuals and institutions can enroll in this service to deposit US dollars from bank accounts, convert those dollars into tokens usable everywhere the internet reaches (subject to the token’s compliance controls), and redeem USDC tokens and cash out to bank accounts.
In addition to immediate usage on Circle Poloniex and Circle Trade, more than 20 companies are also announcing or launching support for USDC today. Other wallets, exchanges, and software applications can add support for the USDC token through the open ERC-20 standard.
Price-stable tokens are foundational requirements for enabling powerful new global financial contracts, products, and services on the internet. USDC is the first of several fiat tokens CENTRE expects to deliver, and Circle is the first of several forthcoming CENTRE members to launch USDC issuance.