Binance Converts $1B SAFU Fund to USDC, Now 3% of Circulating Supply

Binance has announced that it is converting its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) into Circle’s USD Coin (USDC).

Following the $1B conversion into USDC, this stash now makes up approximately 3% of Circle’s total circulating supply, which is $32.6 billion.

SAFU Assets Shift to USDC for Stability

In an April 18 announcement by Binance, the exchange emphasized the importance of SAFU in its ecosystem.

Binance stated, “SAFU continues to be a core part of our responsibility to the ecosystem, and we continue to evolve to meet market conditions head-on. Today, we are transferring 100% of SAFU’s assets to USDC.”

Today, all SAFU assets will be converted to $USDC, bolstering reliability and stability at $1bn.

Read more 👇 https://t.co/Dggl3CdQYU

— Binance (@binance) April 18, 2024

Binance aims to improve its reliability and maintain stability at $1 billion by using a trusted, audited, and transparent stablecoin for SAFU.

SAFU, created in 2018, functions as an emergency insurance reserve that protects Binance users from severe scenarios like exchange breaches, providing a safety net for potential losses.

Over the years, Binance has diligently monitored the size of the fund, ensuring that it maintains a balance sufficient to protect its users. While usually targeted at $1 billion, the fund’s size undergoes occasional fluctuations.

#Binance has completed the swap of all #BTC and #BNB SAFU assets to $USDC – TXIDs can be found below.

799,999,990 USDC into SAFU:https://t.co/6UrHo0eX23

BTC from SAFU back into .com deposit address: https://t.co/lWzcuEJi6t

BNB from SAFU back into .com deposit address:…

— Binance (@binance) April 18, 2024

According to Etherscan data, the SAFU wallet address conducted a transaction of 800 million USDC on the Ethereum network at 02:35 UTC, incurring a transaction fee of $1.88. The conversion process also involved the transfer of 1.36 million BNB valued at approximately $754 million and a transfer of 16,277 BTC.

USDC Now Accounts for 3% of Circle’s Supply

The Binance insurance fund, converted into USDC, is now equal to approximately 3% of Circle’s stablecoin’s total circulating supply, amounting to $32.6 billion.

This marks the fund’s second conversion within just over a year. In March 2023, Binance announced a previous conversion, replacing Binance USD (BUSD) holdings with Tether and TrueUSD (TUSD).

This decision was made to protect users due to regulatory pressures following a crackdown on BUSD issuer Paxos, which announced it was stopping minting the exchange-backed stablecoin.

According to CoinGecko data, Tether maintains its position as the leading stablecoin globally, with a circulating supply of $109 billion and a market share of 69%.

Meanwhile, Circle’s USDC stands as the second largest stablecoin, accounting for approximately 20% of the market share. USDC’s supply has surged by 33% since December, solidifying its position in the stablecoin market.