Stablecoins
A stablecoin is a claim on an issuer. Understanding who the issuer is, what they hold, and how you get your money back matters more than the ticker.
Reserve, issuance and redemption claims on this site link to the issuer’s own transparency disclosures. We do not restate reserve figures as our own numbers, because they change and the issuer’s published attestation is the authoritative record.
USDC is redeemable 1:1 for dollars through its issuer, but not for everyone and not by clicking a button. Here is what Circle Mint requires, what the bank rails add, and why most holders never use it.
USDC and USDT both ship functions that can block an address, pause transfers or destroy a blocked balance, and both issuers' terms reserve the right to use them. What the code says.
An attestation is a snapshot with a defined scope, not an audit and not a guarantee. How to read the document behind a stablecoin's reserve claim.
Both aim to hold a one-dollar value, and the differences that matter are structural: who issues them, under what terms, and where redemption is available.
Getting a dollar out of a stablecoin involves a contract, a route and a network. Where each of those can fail, and what to confirm before you need it.
