USDC: stablecoins rating breakdown
Circle · fiat-backed
The best-documented issuer in the category. Circle is a US-listed public company, which means audited financial statements filed with the SEC on top of monthly reserve attestations by a major accounting firm — a materially different standard of evidence from a quarterly self-published summary. Reserves are cash and short-dated Treasuries held at regulated institutions, and it is licensed under MiCA in Europe.
The best-documented issuer in the category. Circle is a US-listed public company, which means audited financial statements filed with the SEC on top of monthly reserve attestations by a major accounting firm — a materially different standard of evidence from a quarterly self-published summary.
How the score is built
Each criterion is scored 0–10 and weighted. The median column is the middle score across every entry in this ranking, so a row reads as a position rather than a number.
| Criterion | What we measured | Weight | Score | Category median | Rank | Weighted gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is behind it, and who verifies that | monthly attestation + audited public-company financials reserve verification · sourced · 2026-08-27 · source | 32% | 9 | 7 | 1 of 9 | +0.64 |
| Peg record, and the deviation right now | −0.0085% deviation from $1.00 · measured · 2026-08-27 · source | 25% | 7 | 8 | 6 of 9 | -0.25 |
| Who can freeze your balance | yes — and has can the issuer freeze your balance · sourced · 2026-08-27 · source | 18% | 4 | 4 | 4 of 9 | 0.00 |
| Supply and where it is accepted | $73.91bn circulating supply · sourced · 2026-08-27 · source | 15% | 9 | 6 | 2 of 9 | +0.45 |
| Who keeps the interest on the reserves | the issuer who keeps the reserve interest · sourced · 2026-08-27 | 10% | 3 | 4 | 6 of 9 | -0.10 |
Measured 27 August 2026 · weights and method · decided by what is behind it, and who verifies that, worth +0.64 points against the median
What is behind it, and who verifies that: 9/10
Sourced to primary documents: what the reserves actually hold, who attests and how often, and — the distinction the industry blurs deliberately — whether that is a full audit or a point-in-time attestation. A monthly attestation by a named accounting firm and a quarterly self-published summary are not the same instrument, and neither is an audit. Crypto-backed and synthetic designs are judged on their own terms: the collateral ratio, where the collateral lives, and what it does in a drawdown.
Scored 9 of 10 against a category median of 7, which places it 1st of 9 among stablecoins on this criterion. At a 32% weight that is 0.64 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 9, the worst 3.
Peg record, and the deviation right now: 7/10
Every historical break with its date, depth and cause, plus the live deviation from $1.00 measured at a stated timestamp. Both halves matter: the current price says almost nothing on a quiet day, and the history says everything about what happens on a violent one.
Scored 7 of 10 against a category median of 8, which places it 6th of 9 among stablecoins on this criterion. At a 25% weight that is 0.25 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 8, the worst 3.
Who can freeze your balance: 4/10
Whether the issuer can blacklist an address, whether it has actually done so, and at whose request. Nearly every fiat-backed stablecoin can freeze funds — that is not a defect, it is the design, and it is the single fact most likely to matter to a holder who never reads a reserve report. We record it as a fact rather than a moral judgement.
Scored 4 of 10 against a category median of 4, which places it 4th of 9 among stablecoins on this criterion. At a 18% weight that is exactly level with the median of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 6, the worst 2.
Supply and where it is accepted: 9/10
Circulating supply and the number of chains it genuinely circulates on, from public data at a stated timestamp. Supply is the closest available proxy for whether you can exit at size without moving the price.
Scored 9 of 10 against a category median of 6, which places it 2nd of 9 among stablecoins on this criterion. At a 15% weight that is 0.45 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 4.
Who keeps the interest on the reserves: 3/10
The reserves behind a large fiat-backed stablecoin earn a market rate. We record who receives that: the issuer, the holder, or a distributor. It is the least discussed economic fact in the category and it is worth billions a year.
Scored 3 of 10 against a category median of 4, which places it 6th of 9 among stablecoins on this criterion. At a 10% weight that is 0.10 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 9, the worst 2.
Its nearest neighbours in this ranking
Incidents priced into this score
- 2023-03-11 — $3.3bn of USDC reserves were held at Silicon Valley Bank when it failed. USDC traded down to roughly $0.87 before US regulators guaranteed SVB deposits, after which the peg recovered. Redemptions were paused over the weekend because the banking system, not the token, was closed. [users made whole: confirmed] [source]
Questions about this score
Is USDC safer than USDT?
+
The evidence behind it is stronger, which is the part you can actually assess. Circle is a US-listed public company with audited financial statements on top of monthly reserve attestations, holding cash and short-dated Treasuries; Tether publishes quarterly attestations rather than a full audit and holds instruments including secured loans, bitcoin and gold. On the other hand USDT has never broken its peg the way USDC did in March 2023, and it is far deeper. Better evidence and better price behaviour are not the same claim.
Can Circle freeze my USDC?
+
Yes. Circle can blacklist any address and has done so, generally at law-enforcement request. That is how a regulated issuer operates and it is also the single most important fact for anyone holding USDC because they believe nobody can take it: a stablecoin balance is a claim on a company that can switch it off.
Do I earn interest on USDC?
+
No — Circle does. The reserves behind $73.9bn of USDC earn a market rate and none of it reaches holders. If you are holding a working balance for trading, that is a fair price for instant settlement. If you are holding it as savings, compare it honestly against a money-market fund that pays you the interest and cannot blacklist your account.