Celebrating One Year of USDC on Stellar

It’s been one year since one of the world’s fastest-growing dollar digital currencies, USD Coin (USDC), was introduced to the power and speed of the Stellar network. We knew a fully-backed and trusted global digital dollar operating on the network would be game-changing — and it has been.

USDC on Stellar quickly catalyzed more opportunities for fintechs, wallets, exchanges, and developers on the network. Many integrated it into their own products and services to enable seamless, near-instant, and more affordable cross-border solutions.

Since the introduction of USDC to the network last February, the ecosystem has…‍

Launched new payment corridors‍

• African fintech Flutterwave established new remittance corridors, working with Tempo to simplify payments between Europe and Africa with USDC.
• Longtime ecosystem partner Tempo and fintech Arf established a new payment corridor between Europe and the Philippines, facilitating the movement of USDC to a local payout partner in the Philippines. ‍

Taken transformative steps toward bridging cash and crypto

• By integrating with the Stellar network, the forthcoming MoneyGram International service will enable cash-in and cash-out in local currency in participating markets for consumers using USDC as the bridge between different currencies and allowing for near-instant settlement.
• When the service launches this year, it will offer on/off ramp options to consumers that do not require a bank transfer or a credit card, demonstrating SDF’s commitment to expanding access and advancing interoperability in new ways.
  

Expanded valuable services for financial inclusion

• The Vibrant wallet makes it possible for Argentines experiencing inflation to purchase and hold USDC quickly, cheaply, and easily. Since transactions on Stellar clear and settle in a matter of seconds, Vibrant users can exchange Argentine pesos into USDC and back at a moment’s notice, to minimize the risk of settlement time devaluing the final amount the user ends up receiving.
  

Powered more efficient B2B services

• Leading Latin American crypto exchange Bitso is leveraging USDC as a bridge asset and the preferred on/off ramp asset between Mexico and the US, lowering costs, accelerating transactions, and allowing more than 2 million users to benefit from a cheaper payment rail between US dollars and Mexican pesos.
• Tribal Credit, a B2B payment and financing platform for emerging markets, announced they will join forces with Bitso to create faster, cheaper cross-border payment services between Mexico and the US. The solution will allow companies in Mexico to send B2B payments in pesos to the US and allow the recipient to receive the payment in dollars.
• USDC can be leveraged via anchors like Wyre, Stably, BitGo, and FinClusive to hold or onboard value to Stellar.
  

Made a faster, cheaper USDC available to customers

• Leading Asian cryptocurrency exchange Liquid introduced Stellar USDC to customers, and it is now the top USDC stablecoin on the platform by number of transactions.
• Fast-growing exchange Okcoin became the first US exchange to enable USDC deposit and withdrawal via Stellar for users in the US, providing a notable on-ramp for retail and institutional customers.
  

These are just a few of the examples. When we step back and look at the impact USDC has had on the network, it’s incredible to see how ecosystem actors have taken advantage of the interoperability and improved liquidity it provides to expand upon Stellar’s strengths even further. Cheers to all that USDC has enabled on the network already, and to continued solutions that chart a more frictionless financial future.