The USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin experienced a frenzy of activity on February 10, 2023, with many billions of stablecoins being burned and minted on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain for a surge in USDC supply on the $148 million blockchain.
Blockchain data shows that the value of USDC tokens on the Ethereum blockchain was significantly altered by Circle burning $4.286 billion and minting $4.434 billion, for an increase in supply of $148 million on February 10, 2023.
Please note that some of those tokens may have been transferred to or from other blockchains, as only ethereum data is considered.
Despite the partial data, it is possible to conclude that the overall supply probably did not fluctuate more than usual based on data from the main crypto data provider. CoinMarketCap.
Firm data shows that USDC’s market capitalization rose from a midday low of $41.44 billion to a high of $41.57 billion before falling to its current value of $41.48 billion. . At least part of this change can be attributed to fluctuations in the value of the stablecoin which is currently priced at $0.9999.
Coinbase, a major publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States, has apparently played a key role in the inexplicable activity that burns and mints billions of tokens again in a matter of hours.
This institution alone received a total of $4.731 billion in USDC, more than was minted on the ethereum blockchain that day.
In addition, Coinbase also deposited to its Circle deposit address $4.675 billion, more than it burned that day, in 29 transactions on Feb. 10, 2023. Overall, Coinbase withdrew $56 million more from Circle than it deposited today. .
The report follows the launch of a Coinbase campaign to encourage users to switch from Tether (USDT) to USDC by waiving all conversion fees. In its campaign announcement, Coinbase described USDC as the “most reputable” stablecoin on the market.
The institution explained that trust and stability were essential to attract and retain clients. However, certain sectors of the crypto community did not accept Coinbase’s call to sell Tether (USDT) for USDC at face value.
Various crypto twitter personalities have made allegations regarding the USDC, with some going so far as to call it a “collapsing scheme.” While USDT is widely seen as controversial, USDC also has its own share of controversy.
Particularly notable is the scandal that resurfaced in August 2021, when discovered that USD Coin was not fully backed by the US dollar, while a sizeable portion of its backing was backed by more speculative assets.
