US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken will enable trading of Circle’s USD-proxy cryptographic stablecoin, USDC, starting January 8th.
Kraken says it will enable deposits and withdrawals of USDC at 14:30 UTC on January 8. “The first trades will start shortly after funding is enabled as sell orders cannot be placed until deposits clear.”
Thereafter, the coin can be traded on Kraken for Bitcoins (BTC), Ethers (ETH), Euros, US Dollars (USD) or Tethers (USDT).
According to Kraken:
“USDC is a fully collateralized, U.S. dollar-based stablecoin. Similar to other stablecoins listed on Kraken, USDC serves as a hedge against crypto volatility, provides immediate liquidity to crypto holders, and can be used to seamlessly and quickly move assets around the world.”
Further:
“USDC is the second-biggest stablecoin in the world, with a current market capitalization exceeding $500 million…As of December 1, 2019, over $1.3 billion USDC has been issued with $830 million redeemed…USDC is based on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, making it interoperable with most major wallet and custody services.”
It should be noted that the Ethereum network is undergoing major upgrades now and is looking to make significant changes to the way the network is secured (“proof-of-work” to “proof-of-stake”). Transactions across Ethereum have been slow at times, as they have across Bitcoin. The Ethereum network has never failed completely, however.
USDC comes online at Kraken as the maker of rival coin, Tether Inc., is engaged in a lengthy battle with the New York Attorney General’s Office (NYAG).
The NYAG alleges that Tether made substantial loans from its reserves to associated exchange Bitfinex without disclosing the loans to the public in a timely way.
Until last spring, Tether always claimed that each of the more than $4 billion USD in tethers it has circulating were backed 100% by equivalent USD held in reserve. Critics have long questioned this claim, and the company has never produced a credible audit.
The NYAG says the loan to Bitfinex was made in the fall of 2018, but that the company’s terms of service was not updated to reflect the loan for approximately six months.
In July, Anna Baydakova broke the story that tethers had supplanted bitcoins as the crypto remittance vehicle of choice among Chinese merchants selling goods to malls in Moscow.
Circle has progressively downsized and sold assets this year and is now focusing on its stablecoin efforts.
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