Exchange USD Coin (USDC Optimism)

USD Coin: a complete guide

What is USD Coin

USD Coin (USDC) is a dollar stablecoin issued by Circle since 2018. Each token is backed by reserves held in cash and short-term US Treasuries, and the reserve composition is regularly reported by the issuer.

Sending and receiving USDC Optimism

Send USDC only on the network the recipient supports: an Ethereum address and a Polygon address may look identical but the funds end up on different chains. Fees are paid in the native coin of the network (ETH, SOL, POL…).

Full USD Coin guide: all networks, storage and risks

Optimism network

Optimism is an Ethereum layer-2 network. Addresses use the Ethereum format and fees are paid in ETH at a fraction of mainnet cost.

USDC on other networks

• USDC ERC20 — ERC20 is the token standard on Ethereum. It is supported by almost every wallet and exchange, but the fee (gas) is paid in ETH and grows when the network is busy.
• USDC Polygon — Polygon PoS is an Ethereum-compatible network with addresses in the same 0x format. Fees are paid in POL and usually cost a fraction of a cent.
• USDC BEP20 — BEP20 is the token standard on BNB Smart Chain, an Ethereum-compatible network. Addresses look like Ethereum addresses, and fees are paid in BNB and are usually low.
• USDC SOL — Tokens on Solana follow the SPL standard. Transfers confirm in seconds with fees of a fraction of a cent paid in SOL; receiving a new token for the first time requires a small SOL deposit.
• USDC Arbitrum — Arbitrum One is an Ethereum layer-2 network. Addresses use the Ethereum format, fees are paid in ETH and are much lower than on the Ethereum mainnet.