Circle unveils USDC Bridge for native cross-chain stablecoin transfers

Stablecoin issuer Circle has launched $USDC Bridge, enabling users to transfer $USDC natively between at least 17 blockchains without needing to rely on wrapped or synthetic tokens.

On Friday, Circles $USDC X account said the bridge allows users to move the $USDC ($USDC) stablecoin in a “predictable, transparent way,” citing a native burn-and-mint transfer mechanism and no bridge complexities.

Gas fees will be handled automatically, fees will be shown upfront, and live status updates will be provided throughout the transfer, Circle added.

Source: Circle

The $USDC Bridge builds on Circles Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), which was introduced in April 2023 and facilitates hundreds of millions of stablecoin transfers each day.

Cross-chain bridges seek to make the broader crypto ecosystem interoperable, functioning as a unified network rather than a collection of fragmented, isolated blockchains.

Making bridges as simple and easy to use as possible has been an area of focus for many crypto infrastructure firms.

In the past, bridges have confused users and arguably slowed crypto adoption, especially for beginners struggling to navigate bridge interfaces, trade routes and gas fees.

$USDC Bridge supports over a dozen blockchains

Cointelegraph found that $USDC Bridge supports $USDC transfers between at least 17 Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, Monad, Optimism, Polygon, Sonic and World Network.

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Circles CCTP supports a broader number of blockchains, including Solana, Sui and Aptos, which are not natively EVM compatible.

On Wednesday, Circle was hit with a class action for failing to freeze around $230 million worth of $USDC that moved through its CCTP from the Drift Protocol exploit on April 1.

Circle is accused of aiding and abetting conversion and negligence.

More than 100 members are involved in the class action. The law firm representing them, Mira Gibb, is seeking damages, with the final amount to be determined at trial.