USDC Goes L2: Circle’s Stablecoin to Make Its Native Debut on Arbitrum

Stablecoin provider, Circle Internet Financial, has revealed that its dollar-pegged token, USDC, will be natively introduced on the layer two (L2) blockchain Arbitrum on June 8. The announcement follows Circle’s disclosure of its euro-pegged coin, EUROC, merging with the Avalanche blockchain last week.

Circle Plans to Launch USDC on Arbitrum on June 8

On Thursday, Circle revealed that usd coin (USDC), the second largest stablecoin by market valuation, will make its debut on Ethereum’s L2 scaling network, Arbitrum. With a current market capitalization of roughly $28.8 billion, USDC ranks as the second-largest stablecoin. “USDC issued by Circle will be native to Arbitrum and will be considered the official version of USDC for the Arbitrum ecosystem,” Circle said on Thursday. “Over time, native USDC liquidity will grow and replace the currently circulating ‘bridged USDC’ liquidity that comes from Ethereum.”

Arbitrum also released a blog post discussing the impending USDC native support, asserting that it will provide numerous benefits such as enabling institutional on/off-ramps through Circle and its partners. Additionally, Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) support is expected to eradicate delays related to bridge withdrawals. Furthermore, Arbitrum said that the upgradeable smart contract will permit Circle to implement future improvements for an enhanced user experience.

Arbitrum has decided to rename the Ethereum-bridged edition of USDC on block explorers as “USDC.e”. The team also plans to proactively engage with ecosystem applications and encourage them to adopt this change in their app user interfaces and documentation. “Arbitrum will be working with ecosystem apps to provide a smooth transition of liquidity from bridged USDC to native USDC over time,” the blog post elaborates. The developers also said that the functionality of the Arbitrum Bridge will remain unchanged for the time being.

The latest development coincides with Circle’s decision to remove U.S. Treasury bonds from USDC reserves, leaving only cash and overnight repurchase agreements. Moreover, EUROC, Circle’s euro-backed stablecoin, was recently implemented natively on Avalanche. In March, it came to light that Circle partnered with token protocol startup Noble to launch USDC on the Cosmos chain. Circle also announced its presence on Arbitrum’s Discord under the “usdc-circle-support” channel for those seeking answers to their questions.

What are your thoughts on Circle’s decision to bring USDC to Arbitrum? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.