Circle Rolls Out Native USDC on the Celo Blockchain, Expanding Stablecoin Access

San Francisco-based financial services firm Circle announced the launch of USDC on the Celo blockchain earlier this week, allowing users to access the regulated US dollar stablecoin without needing to bridge assets across chains.

USDC is now natively integrated on Celo, joining the blockchain’s existing stablecoin use cases including remittances, savings, lending, and payments. The move provides another way for developers and users to leverage USDC’s liquidity and settlement speed.

Celo is a mobile-first proof-of-stake blockchain focused on making crypto payments and financial services more accessible globally. It uses stablecoins for gas fees and settlements, allowing for familiar fiat-like transactions.

According to Circle, adding USDC directly on Celo fits with both company’s goals of increasing financial inclusion and prosperity worldwide. Circle facilitates over $100 billion in transactions annually, while Celo has an ecosystem of over 1,000 projects across more than 150 countries.

Use cases for USDC on Celo highlighted by Circle include:

• Low-cost remittances and payments settling in seconds
• 24/7 trading, borrowing and lending on DEXs like Uniswap
• Savings accounts denominated in USDC without traditional bank accounts

USDC on Celo has the token address 0xcebA9300f2b948710d2653dD7B07f33A8B32118C. Celo community members have already proposed allowing gas fee payments in USDC, with a governance vote expected soon.

Circle offers fiat onramps for converting to USDC on Celo through its Circle Mint accounts. The company said USDC is open source and available for any developer to integrate into Celo DeFi apps and services.

The addition of USDC marks a significant stablecoin milestone for Celo as it boosts real-world utility. For Circle, it continues their strategy of deploying USDC across multiple chains to increase access and usage for dollar-pegged digital currencies.

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