In this photo, a woman is holding a smartphone with the USD Coin (USDC) logo on the screen.
Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
US dollar coin (USDC) came close to recovering against the dollar on Monday after stablecoin issuer Circle said it had $3.3 billion in lost assets. Silicon Valley Bank US banks will be “fully accessible” when they open.
USDC is a type of cryptocurrency known as stable currency USD. It is backed by real assets, including US Treasuries and cash, and is currently the second largest stablecoin. tie up.
Last week, Circle said it had $3.3 billion of its cash holdings at SVB. After the bank collapse, USDC lost $1, falling to 86 cents on Saturday, according to CoinDesk data.
In total, Circle said it has about $9.7 billion in cash. Of this, $5.4 billion is currently held by BNY Mellon.
The company said when US banks open on Monday, the $3.3 billion USDC reserve deposit held at the Silicon Valley bank will be fully available to the public.
According to CoinDesk data, USDC was close to recovering its price following Circle’s confidence and was hovering below the $1 mark at around 99 cents on Monday.
Circle’s announcement came after US regulators last week closed SVB and took control of its deposits, the biggest banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
On Sunday, the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said SVB depositors would have access to all their money starting Monday.
Circle said USDC will be redeemed 1-to-1 with US dollars.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, said on Sunday that the company has entered into a new partnership with Cross River Bank to issue and redeem USDC.
Allaire also praised the government’s intervention in the SVB fiasco.
“We are pleased to see that the US government and financial regulators are taking important steps to reduce the risks posed by the banking system,” he said in a press release.
SVB is the latest of several tech- and cryptocurrency-focused lenders to fall in the past few days. Silvergate Capital, a major lender to the crypto industry, said on Wednesday it is ceasing operations and liquidating its bank. And on Sunday, US regulators shut down another crypto lender, Signature Bank, to prevent contagion into the banking sector.
Circle Signature Bank said it had no cash reserves.
The broader cryptocurrency market rallied on Monday as regulators stepped in. Bitcoin Jumped 10% to above $22,000.
