Circle rolls out USDC Bridge for native cross-chain stablecoin transfers

Stablecoin issuer Circle has unveiled a new way to move USDC cross-chain, called USDC Bridge.

The company called it a “predictable, transparent way to move USDC,” in an X post on Friday.

USDC Bridge is Circle’s official, native cross-chain bridging solution powered by its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) that will enable native USDC, rather than wrapped or synthetic versions, to move between blockchains using a 1:1 burn-and-mint process.

The announcement notes that there will be “clear fees upfront” and progress updates on transfers. 

A reporter for The Block connected their wallet to the service and found it would cost about $0.20 to move $20 worth of USDC from the Ethereum mainnet to Optimism, though fees appear to vary by transaction setup.

Circle notes the destination gas exchange is “handled automatically.”

The advantage of USDC Bridge is that it adds an easy interface for CCTP transactions. CCTP, Circle’s native infrastructure for moving its stablecoins, was first introduced in 2023 and has been continually updated to support new chains and a full protocol V2 revamp last year.

According to Circle’s website, CCTP transactions require standard gas fees on the source and destination blockchains, though Circle itself does not charge for using the service. “Fast” transactions may include higher costs.

CCTP supports a range of Layer 1s where Circle issues USDC directly, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Solana, Monad, and Sei, as well as a range of EVM Layer 2s like Base, Polygon. HyperEVM, Ink, and Unichain, to name a few. Though USDC Bridge appears to be limited to EVM-enabled chains at launch, excluding chains like Solana, but supporting EVM-capable chains like Sei and Monad.

USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market cap. Circle has moved to issue USDC natively on dozens of chains and even on some notable applications, including Polymarket.

Expand Chart