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8.5/10
Stablecoins
Company file: Circle, owners, incidents →
USDC
About 88% of reserves sit in a BlackRock-managed government money market fund held at BNY, the rest in bank cash, with monthly third-party attestations and an issuer that files audited accounts with the SEC. The March 2023 de-peg is instructive rather than damning: reserves were exposed to a failed bank, the exposure was disclosed immediately, and the peg recovered once the deposits were guaranteed.
Best for: The strongest disclosure and reserve composition available
Company file: Circle, owners, incidents →How this score was reached
8.5 is the weighted average of the five pillar findings below. Does the job well with no material unresolved concerns.
- Custody & Security35%
- 8.6
- Cost & Fee Transparency10%
- 8.4
- Regulation & Legal Standing20%
- 9.0
- Performance & Reliability30%
- 8.0
- Access & Support5%
- 8.6
About 88% of reserves in the Circle Reserve Fund, a Rule 2a-7 government money market fund managed by BlackRock with custody at BNY; the rest in cash at large banks, held for holders’ benefit. Monthly third-party attestation; Circle’s group accounts are audited by Deloitte.
Redemption at par for verified institutional holders through Circle Mint, with published terms. No redemption fee.
SEC-registered issuer listed on the NYSE since June 2025. Issues under MiCA through a French e-money institution, holds a New York trust charter (31 Jul 2026) and opened an OCC-supervised national trust bank on 24 Jul 2026.
De-pegged to roughly $0.87 in March 2023 after Circle disclosed $3.3bn of reserves stranded at Silicon Valley Bank, back near $0.99 within about two days once the deposits were guaranteed. Disclosure during the event was prompt and complete.
Very widely supported across chains and venues with deep secondary liquidity; about $75bn outstanding in Sep 2026.
Strengths
- Reserve composition published in detail and attested monthly
- Issuer files audited accounts with the SEC and is supervised by the OCC
- Disclosed its March 2023 bank exposure immediately rather than waiting
Against it
- Did de-peg to about $0.87 in March 2023 — reserve quality is not the same as reserve access
- Freezes on court or law-enforcement direction: 16 business wallets frozen under a sealed civil case in Mar 2026
- Will not freeze on its own during a hack, as the Apr 2026 Drift exploit showed
What March 2023 actually showed
USDC fell to roughly $0.87 when Silicon Valley Bank, holding $3.3bn of its reserves, failed. Circle disclosed the exposure immediately and the peg was back near $0.99 within about two days once the deposits were guaranteed. That is a reserve access problem, disclosed and resolved — a different event from a stablecoin that de-pegged because there were no reserves, and the rubric does not treat them the same.
The fix was to move about 88% of reserves into a BlackRock-managed government money market fund held at BNY. Circle now also runs an OCC-supervised national trust bank, opened 24 Jul 2026, and files audited accounts with the SEC. The open question is freezing: Circle acts on court or law-enforcement direction, not on its own judgment, which in 2026 meant freezing 16 business wallets on a sealed civil case and not freezing stolen Drift funds moving through its own bridge.
Frequently asked questions
Is USDC safe after the 2023 de-peg?+
The de-peg came from disclosed exposure to a failed bank, not from missing reserves, and it recovered within days. Most reserves now sit in a government money market fund rather than bank deposits. The episode is a lesson about where reserves are held, not whether they exist.
What backs USDC?+
About 88% in the Circle Reserve Fund, a government money market fund managed by BlackRock with custody at BNY, and the rest in cash at large banks, with monthly third-party attestation and published composition.
Can USDC be frozen?+
Yes. Circle freezes addresses on the direction of law enforcement or a court; in March 2026 it froze 16 business wallets under a sealed New York civil case and began reversing some three days later. That capability exists on every centrally issued stablecoin and is the trade against a decentralised alternative like DAI.
Assessed by
Blockchain Security Researcher · September 27, 2026
◆ Disclosure
CoinRadar Daily is a non-commercial project. We have no commercial relationship with USDC, earn nothing from any link on this page, and carry no advertising or sponsorship anywhere on the site. Findings rest on public sources; we did not open an account or transact.
Rubric v2.0How we score →
The rest of the stablecoins table
- 01USDC — you are hereThe strongest disclosure and reserve composition available8.5
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