USDC is a stable coin issued by Circle and Coinbase that is pegged to the US dollar at a ratio of 1:1. Each unit of this cryptocurrency in circulation is backed by $1, which is held in the form of cash and short-term US Treasuries. It is an open source, smart contract based stablecoin. True financial interoperability requires a price-stable means of exchanging value. Stablecoin technology backed by a centralised fiat currency brings stability to cryptocurrencies. USDC is the world's first stablecoin, an ERC-20 token, creating possibilities in payments, lending, investing, trading and trade finance - and the ecosystem will continue to grow as other fiat currency tokens are added.