Circle has announced that it will launch the USDC stablecoin on Optimism next week. Expanding into Optimism will give more users the flexibility and ease to access USDC.
USDC is a stablecoin cryptocurrency that is pegged to the US dollar. It was launched by Circle and Coinbase in 2018 as a way to facilitate transactions on blockchain networks without the volatility associated with other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Optimism is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum that aims to increase the throughput of the network while reducing transaction fees and improving the user experience.
It uses optimistic rollups to process transactions off-chain and then submits proof of those transactions to the Ethereum blockchain, allowing for faster and more efficient processing.
According to Circle, preceding the integration on Optimism will be the renaming of the USDC Ethereum bridge on the blockchain explorer to USDC.e.
“Circle will also collaborate with ecosystem applications to make similar changes to their application UI and documentation.”
Circle added that in support of the relabeling, “Optimism will work with ecosystem applications to provide a smooth liquidity transition from USDC.e to USDC over time.”
Native USDC and bridged USDC on Ethereum
Part of the roadmap for USDC on Optimism is that USDC issued by Circle will be considered the official form of USDC on the OP Mainnet.
It is expected that over time, the liquidity of this native USDC issued by Circle will grow and replace the currently circulating bridged USDC liquidity from Ethereum.
“There will be no immediate changes to the OP Mainnet bridge and it will continue to operate normally,” Circle said.
It also added the details of the tokens as follows:
Bridged USDC from Ethereum
Token Symbol: USDC.e
Token Address: 0x7f5c764cbc14f9669b88837ca1490cca17c31607
Native USDC issued by Circle
Token Symbol: USDC
Token Address: 0x0b2C639c533813f4Aa9D7837CAf62653d097Ff85
A recent adjustment in the management of USDC between Circle and Coinbase shows the commitment of the first to providing a useful payment tool in the crypto space.
The companies noted that Centre Consortium will no longer be needed as the central managing firm of USDC.
