USDC issuer Circle issues audited report
Circle, the company responsible for issuing USD Coin (USDC), has released a report that has been validated by an accountant on the treasury reserve assets that support more than $44.5 billion worth of tokens now in circulation.
The current composition of the stablecoin issuer’s reserve vault is broken out in the reserve report that Circle published in December 2022 and which was evaluated by accounting organization Grant Thornton. According to Circle, there is currently $44,693,963,701 USD held in escrow accounts, which supports the value of 44,553,543,212 USDC.
It is important to note that a significant part of the latter sum is invested in a number of government bonds issued by the United States government. According to Timothy Singh, who serves as Vice President of Accounting for Circle, the total amount of US dollar-denominated assets, which can include a combination of cash and government bonds, is the fair value of the assets held in the USDC reserve.
The reserve fund that Circle uses is officially designated as a government money market fund. Circle is the sole owner of the equity shares in the fund, which consists of fourteen different types of US Treasury bills and has a total market capitalization of about $23.5 billion. In addition, the fund has a cash balance of $48.9 million, and it owes another $33 million; however, this amount will be reduced due to “time and settlement differences”.
Two additional US government bonds with a combined value of $10.5 billion are reported in a separate category of reserve assets. These securities, along with an additional $10.5 billion in cash held by various financial institutions on behalf of Circle, bring the total value of reported reserve funds to a total of $20.5 billion.
Bank of New York Mellon, Citizens Trust Bank, Customers Bank, New York Community Bank, Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank are some of the US institutions that hold Circle’s cash reserves. Other US banks include Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank.
At the World Economic Forum that took place in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2023, significant participants attended programs centered on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies including Circle and the payment network Ripple.
Circle’s vice president of global policy, Corey Then, said the group conducted meetings with lawmakers, conventional businesses, digital firms and humanitarian organizations to explore the possibility of using USDC as a payment option.
Circle’s position as a stablecoin issuer has expanded continuously over the past two years, leaving USDC as the second most used USD-backed stablecoin, behind Tether. Tether is the most widely used USD-backed stablecoin.
