According to data on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko, US Dollar Coin (USDC), the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, which is designed to remain priced at $1, is currently trading at 91 cents. Its value fell as low as 87 cents overnight, below its prior all-time low of 89 cents in May 2019, but has started to recover on Saturday morning.
1/ Following the confirmation at the end of today that the wires initiated on Thursday to remove balances were not yet processed, $3.3 billion of the ~$40 billion of USDC reserves remain at SVB.
— Circle (@circle) March 11, 2023
The depegging occurred after Circle, the issuer of USDC, revealed that $3.3 billion worth of the cash reserves that back USDC remain held at Silicon Valley Bank, which was closed by California financial regulators this week after a bank run. As a result of the disclosure, major crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase temporarily suspended USDC conversions, leaving customers with USDC held on those exchanges unable to move or convert it to other currencies. The depegging of USDC has also triggered depegging by other dollar-pegged stablecoins, including DAI, USDD, and USDP, which are trading at 93 cents, 95 cents, and 96 cents, respectively, as of Saturday morning.
A stablecoin’s peg is not truly determined by the price on an exchange.
It is determined by the ability to redeem directly from the issuer 1 for 1.
That will be the question this week. Can people redeem directly from Circle?
— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) March 11, 2023
USDC was launched by Centre, a joint venture between Circle and Coinbase, as a stablecoin always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. However, the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has hit Circle and other crypto companies hard. On Friday, several firms and projects, including BlockFi, Avalanche, Proof, and Yuga Labs, disclosed their exposure to SVB. Circle, as the issuer of USDC, is uniquely responsible for maintaining confidence in a product marketed as always fully backed by cash held in reserves and always redeemable for $1.