Circle’s USDC will launch natively on Optimism, Coinbase’s Base next week

Circle’s USDC will launch natively on Optimism, Coinbase’s Base next week

Aug. 31, 2023

By Mike Dalton

Those launches will be the first of many during Circle's "StableSeptember" event.

The major stablecoin company Circle said it will launch its USDC stablecoin natively on two blockchains in the first week of September.

The company said on Aug. 30 that it will launch USDC on Optimism’s OP Mainnet. It said that this new, native version of USDC will gradually replace OP Mainnet’s current version of the stablecoin, which is bridged from the Ethereum blockchain.

The symbol for Optimism’s bridged version of USDC will be changed to USDC.e, while the new native version will be labeled USDC.

Previously, Circle announced a native version of USDC on Coinbase’s Layer 2 Base network on Aug. 29. Just like in the other launch, the new version of USDC on Base will gradually replace an existing version bridged from Ethereum. The bridged version will be renamed USDbC, while the new native version will be labeled USDC.

Circle said that these native versions of USDC will allow for institutional on- and off-ramps and will help ensure that USDC is always fully backed and redeemable.