Circle unveils Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol as USDC dominates Stablecoin supply

• Circle’s USDC has launched the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, which allows for the seamless movement of USDC across different blockchains without the need for bridges.
• USDC remains a popular stablecoin choice for users, with a 24-hour volume of over $7 billion.

Circle’s USDC stablecoin has made a name for itself in the exciting world of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). But now, the company is taking things to the next level with the launch of its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol. 

USDC goes CCTP

On 26 April, Circle (USDC) made an announcement that is set to revolutionize the world of blockchain transfers. The company had launched a new feature called the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), which allowed for the seamless movement of the stablecoin across different blockchains without any bridges.

This innovative, permissionless, and on-chain utility uses native burning and minting to facilitate USDC transfers between blockchains.

Previously, Circle issued its stablecoin on multiple top networks, but these assets were largely partitioned.  This made it challenging for users who wanted to transfer their assets between different blockchains.

Users had to rely on complicated and sometimes costly cross-chain transfers to bridge this divide. But with the launch of CCTP, Circle has eliminated the need for bridges.

CCTP works by destroying USDC on the source chain and recreating it on the destination chain. Also, the new feature is set to kick off first on Ethereum and Avalanche.

Current USDC volume on Ethereum

According to Santiment, the volume of USDC on Ethereum has remained steady over the past week, indicating the consistency of this stablecoin’s utility.

Since stablecoins like USDC have different volumes on different blockchains, monitoring these volumes to understand their overall usage is important.

Source: Santiment

It has maintained an average daily volume of around 3 billion since January, with a minor dip below that threshold during a brief period in the same month.

However, in mid-March, there was a significant spike in USDC volume, reaching a whopping 26 billion. As of this writing, the volume was hovering around 3.4 billion, indicating that the stablecoin remains a popular choice for users looking for a reliable and stable alternative to traditional cryptocurrencies. 

Overall 24-hour volume and market cap

According to CoinMarketCap, the 24-hour volume of USDC had exceeded $6 billion as of this writing. The data revealed that there had been a massive surge in volume of over 30% during this period.

The majority of this volume, over $5 billion, was traded on centralized exchanges, while decentralized exchanges saw over $1 billion in trading volume.

Also, its market capitalization was over $30 billion. The stablecoin experienced a slight increase in market cap value of around 0.17%.

Furthermore, Dune Analytics reports showed that the stablecoin dominated the stablecoin supply per day metric. According to the chart, the two largest suppliers per day were Tether USDT and Circle USDC.

However, USDC had emerged as the clear leader with over 42% of the daily supply, surpassing USDT and other stablecoins.