USD Coin (USDC) is Circle's fully reserved US dollar stablecoin, redeemable one-to-one and backed by cash and short-dated US Treasuries held in the BlackRock-managed Circle Reserve Fund, custodied at BNY. Under the GENIUS Act a payment stablecoin pays no yield to holders, so USDC earns nothing on its own; yield comes only from a wrapper such as Coinbase USDC Rewards, Aave lending, or a DEX position. USDC scores 88/100 (Tier 2) on the RWTS Trust Score, the most regulated major stablecoin, NYDFS-supervised and MiCA-authorised, dinged only by the 2023 SVB depeg.
- Issuer / protocol
- Circle
- Jurisdiction
- United StatesNYDFS + EU MiCA (EMI)
- Backing
- Cash & short-dated U.S. Treasuries (Circle Reserve Fund)
- Redemption / lock-up
- None (1:1 redeemable via Circle / exchanges)
- Audit & proof of reserves
- Independently audited
- Availability
- Global
- Chain
- Ethereum
- Tier
- Tier 2 — Treasury & Fiat-Backed
- Contract
- 0xA0b8…eB48
Scored on the published RWTS methodology (v1.1), reviewed quarterly and on material events. Ratings are independent and never pay-influenced.
Source: Big-4 monthly attestation. Point-in-time disclosure, not a live feed; weights move with issuance and policy.
Addresses verified against each chain's explorer. Per-chain supply is a daily DefiLlama snapshot. Native = canonical or natively issued; bridged = wrapped or messaged across.
Calculations are indicative. Actual yields may vary.
Price data from CoinGecko. Not financial advice.
Projections assume constant APY of 0.00%. Actual returns may vary. Not financial advice.
Beyond USDC's own score, two structural questions matter: what is it built on, and what has broken before in this part of the market. A high score in isolation can still carry hidden, shared exposure.
What this and similar assets are built on, and where contagion could spread.
The depegs, defaults, and exploits that inform the Track Record dimension.
Liquidity read: TVL of $73.68B indicates deep on-chain liquidity. Lock-up: None (1:1 redeemable via Circle / exchanges).
Is USDC safe?
USDC (USD Coin) scores 88/100 on the independent RWTS Trust Score, which places it in Treasury & Fiat-Backed (Tier 2). Tier 2 is strong: institutional or fiat backing with solid verification, a notch below fully-reserved physical assets. Backing: Cash & short-dated U.S. Treasuries (Circle Reserve Fund). It is independently audited. The score reflects backing, verification, redeemability, audit, regulatory standing, and track record, not headline yield. We rate. You decide.
Exit routes
15/15 · right 8/8 · routes 7/7If the issuer stopped cooperating tomorrow, could you get out?
Yes, by more than one independent route
- independent
everywhere
The deepest markets on the board after USDT.
- independent
Circle
1:1 redemption from a regulated issuer.
Route 7, right 8. The reference case for what a clean exit looks like.
This is the redeemability component of the Trust Score above, which stands at 88/100 (A). Until 1 September 2026 redeemability was a single figure measuring the right to redeem while ignoring how many routes existed to exercise it. Splitting it moved this asset’s score. How the score works
Assessed 2026-09-01. Route independence asks how many ways out the issuer cannot close, not how much the asset trades.
Compare USDC
Head to head on the Trust Score with similar assets.