USD Coin Expands to Base and Optimism Networks

Circle’s USDC has officially launched on both the Base and Optimism networks, enabling Circle account holders to transfer the stablecoin between these platforms. On September 5, it was also announced that Coinbase has enabled USDC transfers to Base. Circle indicated that it is collaborating with various partners to create a system that will allow users to exchange older, bridged versions of USDC for the new, official versions.

The Base network, introduced on August 9, initially did not permit users to send USDC directly from Coinbase accounts or Circle accounts. Instead, users relied on a bridged version of USDC known as “USDbC” for their U.S. dollar transactions. On August 29, Circle’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, revealed that a native version of USDC was set to be available “next week,” though no specific launch date was provided.