Circle Enables USDC Interoperability for Developers with the Launch of Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol

Improves liquidity and efficiency for USDC throughout the crypto ecosystem, opening up new opportunities for developers to build user-friendly cross-chain apps

SAN FRANCISCO — September 28, 2022 — On stage at Converge22 today, Circle Internet Financial, a global digital financial technology firm and the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EUROC), announced the upcoming launch of its new Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol to help developers build seamless user experiences for sending and transacting USDC natively across blockchains. 

Users today have limitations when transferring USDC across blockchain ecosystems. Existing solutions typically require locking up USDC on one chain and creating a synthetic “bridged” version of USDC on another – creating fragmented liquidity and a complicated user experience. With Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, developers building wallets, bridges, payments apps, financial services tools and more can enable users to send and transact USDC natively across chains. Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol effectively teleports USDC from one ecosystem to another, maximizing capital efficiency and streamlining the user experience.

 Here’s how it works (example):

1. A user accesses a third-party app/dApp to initiate a transfer of 100 USDC from one blockchain to another, and specifies the beneficiary wallet address on the destination chain. The third-party app/dApp facilitates a burn of 100 USDC on the source chain.
2. Circle observes and attests to the burn event on the source chain. The third-party app/dApp requests the attestation from Circle, which provides authorization to mint 100 USDC on the destination chain.
3. The third-party app/dApp uses the attestation to trigger the minting of USDC. 100 USDC is minted on the destination chain and sent to the user’s beneficiary wallet address.

“Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol ultimately enables USDC to function as a universal dollar liquidity layer across ecosystems, providing the most capital efficient way to transport value across the crypto ecosystem,” said Joao Reginatto, VP of Product at Circle. “We are confident this new open-source technology will offer developers a more connected, interoperable platform for USDC and Euro Coin across chains, ultimately allowing them to build the best user experiences.”

Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol was also designed to support developers as they build experiences that bring together the various functionalities and benefits of crypto capital markets, gaming, NFTs and more. Beyond simply transferring USDC across chains, the protocol is composable, which provides developers and their customer base with a potential to experience seamless movement of stable digital assets for actions such as trading, payments, commerce and yield generation.

One of the most widely used dollar digital currencies, USDC intends to be the standard for the movement of value across the internet.

Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol is set to first be integrated by Allbridge, Ava Labs’ Avalanche Bridge and Core Wallet, Axelar, BitGo, LI.FI’s Aggregation Protocol, LayerZero, Socket and Wormhole. Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol will be available on Ethereum and Avalanche by the end of 2022, with support for more chains intended to launch in 2023.

Developers can learn more about Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol and discuss integration plans by joining Circle’s all-new Discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/buildoncircle