According to an announcement made on September 20th, the blockchain interoperability protocol Wormhole has completed its integration with USD Coin. As a result, users can transfer their USDC tokens between the Ethereum, Avalanche, Optimism, and Arbitrum networks through the protocol. Circle has made USDC available on 14 different blockchain networks and plans to increase the number of supported networks.
Circle’s Integration Moves
While this feature is being introduced to users, developers can integrate this integration into their applications using the Wormhole Connect application. The team mentioned that the new integration can solve liquidity issues within the protocol and provide users with a new transfer method:
“In these new and emerging chains, there can be multiple versions of bridged USDC tokens. This can lead to fragmented liquidity, low pricing, and a confusing experience for both users and developers.”
Circle initially supported the Ethereum network when it launched USDC. When a user wanted to send their assets to a different network, they had to lock their assets on the Ethereum network. To proceed with the transaction, users had to mint a derivative token on other chains, which could cause confusion. After resolving these issues, Circle integrated USDC with the Stellar network in 2021. Following this development, USDC was made available to users on 14 blockchain networks starting from September 20th.
Notable Plans for USDC
On April 26th, Circle launched CCTP, a series of smart contracts and an application programming interface that allows the burning of USDC on any network and transfer to another network without the need to deposit funds into a Circle joint account. Initially, CCTP only allowed transfers between Ethereum and Avalanche. However, it has been expanded to support the Optimism and Arbitrum networks.
According to the protocol’s plans, Circle aims to increase the number of supported networks in 2023. Wormhole is not the only protocol that integrates with or plans to integrate with CCTP. Wanchan will also offer a similar service to its users, and according to Circle’s announcement on April 26th, Celer, Hyperlane, LayerZero, and LI.FI will soon implement this integration.
