Circle and Genesis to Develop DeFi Products Built on the USDC Stablecoin

Genesis Global Capital, the lending arm of Digital Currency Group, and the cryptocurrency company Circle, which manages the USD Coin (USDC) ecosystem within the Centre consortium, will join forces to create DeFi protocols built on the stablecoin.

Very excited to announce a new partnership with Genesis to launch USD Coin yield and lending products, and a $25M strategic financing for Circle from DCG https://t.co/9S1VoR6yFr @circlepay @DCGco @GenesisTrading #USDC #stablecoins

— Circle (@circlepay) July 30, 2020

According to the press release, Digital Currency Group will invest $25 million as a strategic investment in Circle to accelerate the adoption of USDC.

The collaboration aims to create solutions for businesses and developers. At its core will be earning interest on USD Coin pledged as collateral, and lending against it to businesses and merchants. The latter use the stablecoin for treasury operations and business payments.

Details regarding the new products will be announced later this year.

Currently, the stablecoin’s market capitalization has reached $1.17 billion, up nearly threefold since the beginning of the year.

The company says that USDC has posted the fastest growth among its rivals when considering fully reserved and regulatory-compliant stablecoins.

USDC issuance has risen thanks to expanded use of the stablecoin in DeFi protocols and the launch in the second quarter of a business checking service. In the spring, the issuer also rolled out Circle API to integrate USDC into payments, commerce, and financial applications.

Analysts at Messari estimated stablecoin transaction volume in Q2 at $144 billion. Extrapolating for the full year, this would amount to $508 billion, up from $422.3 billion last year.

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