Circle and Safe partner to boost USDC adoption in DeFi and institutional self-custody

Safe taps Circle's USDC in DeFi and institutional self-custody

Safe Foundation, a company securing over $60 billion in digital assets, and Circle, a financial technology entity and the issuer of USDC—the second-largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $75 billion —have announced a strategic partnership to speed up the adoption of USDC among institutional investors.

The collaboration aims at promoting Safe as a leading "institution storage for USDC in self-custody and DeFi." According to the press release, both institutions have committed to building trusted rails to support the next generation of on-chain capital markets, particularly for USDC treasury management.

Safe's smart contracts already secure $2.5 billion of USDC, reinforcing the platform as an enterprise-grade infrastructure. This aligns with Circle's USDC as a regulated stablecoin while placing the stablecoin at the core of the Safe ecosystem.

Circle's Chief Commercial Officer, Kash Razzaghi, stated that Safe's smart contracts will "equip organizations with the tools they need to operate seamlessly in the next generation of capital markets."

Safe currently supports over 4% of all Ethereum-based transactions, offering institutional-grade security for large-scale treasury operations. The smart contracts also provide an unobstructed access to DeFi's deepest liquidity pools, primarily dominated by USDC.

"Institutional money is flowing into self-custody infrastructure and DeFi, and institutions need secure, scalable tools to keep up," Lukas Schor, Safe's co-founder, said.

Safe has experienced significant growth this year, with native transaction volumes reaching $1 trillion. Trading volume across Safe smart contracts hit an all-time high of $189.6 billion in the first quarter, according to the press release. The total number of smart contracts achieved a self-reported new milestone of 116.7 million transactions in the quarter, with more than $26.2 billion in decentralized exchange (DEX) volume.

Circle completed its initial public offering (IPO) in June, listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The IPO made history as the first major public listing of a stablecoin issuer, signaling growing mainstream adoption for blockchain-based businesses.

Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.

What are altcoins?

Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.

What are stablecoins?

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.

What is Bitcoin Dominance?

Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin's market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.