Key takeaways from USDC $44.5 reserve report

USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle has released an accountant-verified report of its treasury reserve holdings backing more than $44.5 billion worth of tokens currently in circulation.

Circle’s December 2022 reserve report, which was reviewed by GrantThornton accountancy group, breaks down the current make-up of the stablecoin issuer’s reserve vault. According to Circle, 44,553,543,212 USDC is currently backed by $44,693,963,701 U.S. dollars held in custody accounts.

It is worth noting that a significant portion of the latter amount is invested in a variety of U.S. Treasury bonds. As per Circle’s VP of accounting Timothy Singh, the fair value of assets in the USDC reserve is the total balance of USD denominated assets, including a mix of cash and treasury bonds.

Circle’s Reserve Fund is registered as a government money market fund. The equity interests in the fund are fully owned by Circle and include 14 different US Treasury Bills valued at over $23.5 billion. The fund also holds $48.9 million in cash while a further $33 million is due to the Fund, offset by ‘timing and settlement differences’.

Related: Stablecoin settlements can surpass all major card networks in 2023: Data

Another two US Treasury Securities valued at $10.5 billion are reported in a separate reserve assets category, alongside another $10.5 billion in cash that is held by a number of financial institutions on behalf of Circle.

U.S. banks holding Circle’s cash reserves include the Bank of New York Mellon, Citizens Trust Bank, Customers Bank, New York Community Bank, Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank.

Circle and payments platform Ripple were notable attendees that participated in cryptocurrency and blockchain focused workshops at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2023. 

Circle’s vice president of global policy Corey Then said the organization had held discussions with policymakers, traditional companies, tech firms and humanitarian organizations to unpack the possibility of using USDC as a payment solution in the future.

Over the past two years, Circle’s position as a stablecoin issuer has consistently grown, leaving USDC as the second most used USD-backed stablecoin behind USDT Tether.