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USD Coin (USDC) is a stablecoin with its price pegged to the value of the US dollar. USDC is fully backed by the US Dollar, which means that physical USD reserves are maintained with their value equal to the number of USDC tokens in circulation. Stablecoins find their use case when cryptocurrency investors need a stable destination to park their funds without converting them into fiat reserves.

USD Coin (USDC) is developed and maintained by the Centre Consortium, which has the power to issue and withdraw units of USDC.

USDC is a custodial stablecoin. The Centre Consortium issues and withdraws units of USDC and maintains the pools of physical USD in segregated bank accounts. USDC can always be exchanged for an equivalent number of fiat currency units.

The concept of USDC was announced by Circle in May of 2018, following its launch in September 2018. Since then, USDC has grown to become one of the biggest stablecoins by market capitalization. The growth was largely the result of transparent and trustworthy Proof of Reserves backing the stablecoin units, which is not as clear for one of its biggest competitors, USD Tether (USDT).

On March 29, 2021, payments giant Visa announced the provision of using USDC units to settle payments in its network. The current market capitalization of USDC stands at around $52 billion.

USDC is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain. Therefore, USDC borrows the security of the Ethereum blockchain by having its thousands of nodes scattered worldwide verify and record USDC transactions on the public ledger. The Ethereum network, as we know, is one of the most secure blockchains in the industry.

The integrity of the reserves of US dollars that guarantees the value of USDC can also be trusted with high confidence, as they are regularly audited by trustworthy parties in the US.

While it can be said with sufficient confidence that the value of USDC will be stable and true to the US dollar for the foreseeable future, the integrity of platforms where users store such assets is another concern. Most conventional methods of holding cryptocurrencies are online (hot) wallets or in accounts with centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs). CEXs do not offer true ownership of assets as investors are not provided the private keys of wallets holding their assets. Online wallets are exposed to many malware and online scams capable of leaking sensitive information.

Using hardware (cold) wallets is the most secure crypto asset storage option available in the market. Hardware wallets do not store sensitive information like private keys online, but instead in a physical storage device cut off from the internet, offering the paramount level of security.

Investors can buy and hold USDC on many centralized exchanges available on the web or may transact on-chain using an online wallet. These methods pose serious security concerns, as discussed above. Many CEXs also require the disclosure of KYC information to use their platform, which is not ideal for privacy.

Ledger lets its user simultaneously purchase and transfer ERC-20 tokens into the Ledger hardware wallet, thus providing sovereign control over the user’s private keys. Ledger Live lets users directly manage and track their investments’ performance with a desktop and mobile application.

The process to use Ledger services is pretty simple. It even enables the use of a PayPal account or Debit/Credit card for the purchase of USDC. Follow the following simple steps:

• Get a Ledger Hardware Wallet. 
• Download Ledger Live on a web or mobile device. 
• Create a designated USDC account after setting up Ledger Live. 
• Install the Ethereum application on the hardware wallet from the Ledger Live dashboard. 
• Start buying USDC using Ledger Live and its partners: Coinify and Wyre.

Users also can swap or trade USDC on Ledger for other cryptocurrencies for a dynamic and diversified portfolio that maximizes returns. The hundred of swap pairs available on Ledger can be accessed as follows:

• Get a Ledger Hardware Wallet.
• Download Ledger Live.
• Install the ‘Exchange’ application on Ledger Live, along with the applications for the coins you wish to swap.
• One must have USDC in the linked hardware wallet to facilitate the swap.
• Once there are sufficient assets in the wallet, swapping is possible.