USD Coin (USDC) FAQ
What is USD Coin (USDC)?
USD Coin (USDC) is a stablecoin developed by the Centre Consortium, a collaboration between Coinbase and Circle Internet Financial (Circle). Circle is the issuer of USDC. All issuers use a reserve bank account to hold US Dollars that back USDC in circulation. Each USDC represents a single US dollar (USD), and is meant to not move up and down significantly in terms of its exchange rate.
USDC, a Digital Dollar
- It is a 1:1 representation of a single US dollar on the Ethereum blockchain
- Each USDC is 100% collateralized by a corresponding USD held in bank accounts of the issuer, subject to regular public reporting of USD reserves
How is it used?
- USDC follows the ERC20 standard and can thus be used with any app that accepts tokens based on that standard
- This means a stable digital dollar can now be used to buy any digital item in the crypto ecosystem
- Programmable dollar that can be utilized by developers and fintech businesses
How do I buy USDC on Coinbase?
Coinbase customers from eligible regions can buy USDC on Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase iOS and Android apps. For which regions support trading USDC, please see our Supported Digital Currencies page.
Purchased USDC tokens will be displayed as an asset within your Coinbase wallet on Coinbase.com or in the Coinbase mobile app.
What are the fees for converting USDC?
For US customers only: Digital Currency Conversions ending or starting with USDC are treated as Digital Currency Purchases and Digital Currency Sales respectively, and are charged a spread and Coinbase Fee as stated above for "Buy/Sell Transactions".
When converting from USD to USDC only, Coinbase waives the fee for transactions made with a US bank account or USD Wallet. Purchasing USDC with a credit or debit card will incur the standard fee for each transaction.
To learn more about fees around buying, selling, or converting USDC, check out our Pricing and Fees Disclosures page here.
Can I send USDC to Coinbase?
Yes, but only to the USDC wallet in your Coinbase account. Do not send USDC to any Coinbase wallet addresses other than your USDC wallet. Coinbase will not be able to recover tokens sent to the wrong address.
When sending USDC from Coinbase to another address or exchange, please make sure the recipient supports USDC. If you send to an external (non-Coinbase) address or wallet that does not support USDC, you will need to directly contact their support team for assistance.
