Algorand Foundation has entered into a partnership with Crypto FinTech firm Circle to launch the latter’s USDC stablecoin on its blockchain. This will allow USDC to use Algorand’s infra capabilities to increase its transactional efficiency and outreach.
USDC is USD-pegged stablecoin. Developed by CENTRE consortium, a joint venture of Circle and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market cap of $928.515 million (trailing only Tether). Earlier this year, Algorand also joined hands with Tether to integrate the USDT stablecoin, as well.
What Services the Partnership will offer?
As per the report on June 24, 2020, Circle will bring a couple of other features forward on Algorand’s blockchain -
- There will be support for digital dollar stablecoins to offer interoperability with USDC. This will enable customers using Circle APIs and having Circle Business Accounts to quickly move funds from their card networks or bank accounts into stablecoins on the Algorand blockchain. Through Circle APIs, customers will be the custodian of their fund and can manage it and any transaction using the speed and security of Algorand blockchain.
- To bring the broader industry into the fold, Circle will also provide a simple, seamless API for moving payments between USDC on Algorand and USDC on Ethereum in Q3, 2020. This will ensure that transfer between exchanges and digital wallets are seamless.
Co-founder and CEO of Circle Jeremy Allaire said:
"Growth in mainstream financial use cases is driving more demand for high-throughput payments and finance-optimized blockchain infrastructure….The combination of USDC and Circle Platform Services with the Algorand blockchain will create a foundation for developing a wide range of scalable, secure, and compliant financial applications.”
Why has Circle selected Algorand?
There are a couple of benefits Algorand offers that make it the default choice for USDC. The reasons are very similar to why Tether launched its stablecoin on Algorand.
- High Scalability and Throughput - Algorand offers high linear scalability and over 1,000 TPS of throughput, something which no other blockchain platform can offer simultaneously. This means any transaction of USDC, like Tether, will be instantaneous and confirmed within seconds. This is the fastest and most secure way to send money around the globe.
- High-level Security - Algorand offers reduced counterparty risk and transaction with Algorand’s security thanks to the random selection process involved with its PPoS consensus mechanism. This makes USDC transactions highly secure, resulting in a healthy economy.
- Algorand’s Enterprise-grade Infrastructure - Algorand's co-chain features bring in enterprise blockchain capabilities on to its protocol This feature allows USDC to be used in various use cases granting immense flexibility.
- Availability of Micropayment - On its base level, Algorand doesn’t incur a transaction fee, allowing USDC transactions on the Algorand chain to have very low transaction fees. This means smaller amounts can be sent easily, thus bringing the micropayments feature.
What does this mean for Algorand?
With this announcement, Algorand has now positioned itself at a critical juncture. The top two stablecoins, Tether and USDC, are now on Algorand, making it the only protocol after Ethereum to have two prominent stablecoins. Adding to this is the fact that the Marshall Islands is building its central bank digital currency (CBDC) on top of its protocol, the future certainly looks very bright for Algorand.
How USDC fuels Algorand’s growth
- Growing Use of USDC - USDC is the fastest-growing stablecoin due to its wide-spread adoption by hundreds of fintech firms in their products and services. This is evident from the fact that USDC has crossed $50 billion transaction volume since launch with its $2.5 billion worth of USDC issued. As the global demand for digital dollars is rising, the USDC circulating supply has experienced about 100% increase in the last six months with currently about $940M in circulation. The stablecoin is prominently used in platforms such as Compound, Maker, REN, Nuo, etc.
- Major Investors Lineup - Circle Internet Financials has some impressive names listed in its investor portfolio. The list includes major Chinese crypto mining company Bitmain, Goldman Sachs, Breyer Capital (of Facebook’s Jim Breyer), IDG Capital (of Baidu, Tencent), General Catalyst (AirBnB, Snapchat), Accel Partners, Digital Currency Group, Blockchain Capital, Pantera, and Tusk Ventures. This showcases the potential of USDC, and associating with big investor names will definitely give Algorand a significant boost.
- Increased Transaction Volume - Due to Tether, ETH has a 100 billion annual volume increase and that means ALGO volume can easily climb up by over 10 billion as well. Therefore, with the rapidly increasing transaction volume of USDC, Algorand will experience a very high chain utilization. This is actually in favor of Algorand, as it is organically scalable.
- High Room for Growth - There is a lot of development occurring on Algorand, yet its market cap is just about $170 Million - a minuscule number compared to the multi-billion market caps of EOS, Ethereum, EOS, or Tron. Also, the daily volume is not even close to that of the other three blockchains. This means there’s plenty of room for Algorand to grow. The USDC partnership, bringing the second stablecoin on the chain, is bound to fuel the Algorand’s rise in market cap volume.
- Increased Potential to Attract other Stablecoins - Adding the top two stablecoins to its blockchain will send an extremely positive note to other firms offering stablecoins. With a proven track record to show, this dramatically increases the chance for Algorand to convince more stablecoins to adopt its blockchain in the future.
Conclusion
A multitude of diverse projects, a CBDC, and the two top stablecoins selecting Algorand over others clearly announces its capabilities to the world. Algorand has positioned itself properly to attract any project looking for security, scalability, and speed. It aims to promote a frictionless and borderless economy with its smart and innovative cryptoeconomic protocols.
Stablecoins are the core component of the DeFi revolution. By bringing over the two biggest stablecoins in the space to its protocol, Algorand has put itself in a commanding position to take over the DeFi space.