The US-based payments firm Circle, which issues the USD coin (USDC) stablecoin, is set to launch its coin natively on Arbitrum, an Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution, with the kick off scheduled for June 8. In an announcement on June 1, Arbitrum Foundation revealed that Circle’s USDC will become native to Arbitrum, replacing the currently circulating bridged version of USDC from Ethereum.
The upcoming launch is expected to provide several benefits to users, including maintaining a stable 1:1 exchange ratio with the US dollar, and offering institutional on/off ramps through Circle as well as other partners. Additionally, the native USDC on Arbitrum will be supported by the forthcoming Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (#CCTP) to eliminate bridge withdrawal delays and backed by an upgradeable smart contract for future enhancements by Circle.
To prepare for the June 8th launch, Arbitrum will be renaming the Ethereum-bridged version of USDC on block explorers as “USDC.e” and reach out to ecosystem apps to make that change in their app UI and documentation. The Arbitrum team plans to collaborate closely with ecosystem apps to ensure a smooth transition of liquidity from bridged USDC to native USDC over time. Notably, there will be no immediate changes to the Arbitrum Bridge, which will continue to operate normally for bridging USDC to and from Ethereum.
As part of the new project, Circle also plans to introduce the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol to Arbitrum following the scheduled launch of native USDC. Once integrated into the Arbitrum Bridge, users will be able to move USDC natively to and from Ethereum (and other supported chains) in minutes, eliminating withdrawal delays.
On March 16, Arbitrum Foundation launched governance for the Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova networks and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This marked Arbitrum’s entrance into the second stage of decentralization, becoming the first EVM rollup technology to accomplish this feat. In order to put governance power in the hands of the DAO, 12.75% of the $ARB token supply will be airdropped on March 23.
As excitement builds around the introduction of the native USDC on Arbitrum, it will be interesting to see how these new features and capabilities impact the overall blockchain ecosystem and contribute to its growth. Blockchain enthusiasts can look forward to a smoother transfer experience with reduced delays and an enhanced level of integration with various platforms.
Source: Cryptonews
