Sui to Launch Circle’s Native USDC and CCTP

[PRESS RELEASE – Singapore, Singapore, September 17th, 2024]

Announcement marks the first blockchain-based on the Move programming language to support these protocols.

Sui, the Layer 1 blockchain offering industry-leading performance and infinite horizontal scaling, has announced the upcoming native launches of USDC and Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) on the Sui Network. Issued through Circle’s regulated entities, USDC is the largest regulated dollar-backed stablecoin in the industry with over a $35 billion market cap, as of September 17, 2024.

CCTP is a permissionless on-chain utility that attests to USDC transfers securely between blockchains and aims to provide a more secure and capital-efficient way to transact with USDC across supported blockchains.

Integrating native USDC and CCTP enhances Sui’s utility, security and interoperability for users and developers, with the intent of bringing more liquidity to the network, streamlining transactions, and improving market efficiency across the ecosystem. Builders on Sui will soon be able to use native USDC in a multitude of digital dollar-backed financial products across a variety of use cases including DeFi, gaming, DePIN and ecommerce. Users can seamlessly send, spend and save with digital dollars.

Additionally, Sui’s thriving DeFi environment, according to DeFi Llama on September 17th, boasts almost $700 million in Total Value Locked (TVL), over $250 million in bridged USDC, and a top 10 ranking in weekly DEX trading volume, provides a key foundation for USDC to continue to scale.

“Circle is excited to support Sui’s community of developers and end users with the upcoming availability of native USDC and CCTP,” said Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product Officer at Circle. “Circle’s open platform and permissionless protocols will help more builders deliver blockchain based utility and contribute to efficient payment experiences on Sui and across other ecosystems.”

Sui will collaborate with ecosystem apps to transition liquidity from bridged USDC to native USDC gradually, while Wormhole’s Portal bridge will continue operating as usual. Before native USDC launches, the Ethereum-bridged USDC will be renamed “wUSDC” on block explorers, and ecosystem apps will be encouraged to update their UI and documentation accordingly.

“The availability of USDC as a native asset on Sui marks yet another major milestone in the maturation of the Sui ecosystem,” said Adeniyi Abiodun, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Mysten Labs, which developed the Sui Network. “In combination with USDC’s first-class technology, native USDC gives the Sui community seamless access to one of the world’s most trusted digital currencies and cements Sui as an industry leader.”

Just a little over a year since its mainnet launch, the integration of one of the industry’s bedrock assets further underscores the Sui ecosystem’s rapid evolution into an industry leader. The presence of multiple native stablecoins on Sui fuels a diverse, secure, and scalable platform for building the future of intelligent assets.