Circle to launch USDC on Base network in early September

Next week, USDC will launch on Base — a layer-2 solution supported by the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. This was announced by Jeremy Allaire, CEO of the co-emitter Circle.

The initiative will allow phasing out the ‘bridge’ version of USDbC. The token was backed by a locked-equivalent in the Ethereum network, serving as a temporary solution.

The native stablecoin’s smart contract has already been deployed on Base. On launch day, the team will explain how to convert USDbC into the new token.

Developers will work closely with colleagues from ecosystem dapps to facilitate a smooth transition for liquidity providers. The USDbC bridge will continue to operate as usual.

On August 9, Coinbase opened the Base mainnet for public access. On launch day, the network’s TVL reached $153 million, surpassing StarkNet, which has been live since 2021.

As of writing, the figure stands at $256 million. The L2 solution ranks fifth.

Base will be one of six blockchains on which Circle will launch USDC. Others include Cosmos (via Noble), NEAR, Optimism, Polkadot and Polygon.

Earlier it was reported that Circle is deploying $1 billion to bolster its position in the stablecoins segment.