# USDCx on Cardano USDCx is a dollar-denominated stablecoin issued as a Cardano native asset on the Cardano blockchain. It is backed 1:1 by USDC held in a smart contract deployed by Circle through the xReserve infrastructure on Ethereum. Circle and the Cardano's PENTAD signed an integration agreement. Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, stated: > *"Hello from Japan. Just signed the integration agreement for USDCx on Cardano. Welcome to Cardano Circle!"* The primary role of xReserve, per Circle documentation, is to enable blockchain teams to deploy interoperable USDC-backed stablecoins with reserves held in Circle-deployed smart contracts on source chains such as Ethereum. --- ## xReserve Mechanics xReserve consists of programmatic attestations and Circle-deployed smart contracts. The process works as follows: - A user deposits USDC into the xReserve contract on Ethereum - The xReserve API verifies the deposit and issues a cryptographic attestation that triggers minting of an equivalent amount of the partner-chain token, such as USDCx on Cardano - For redemption, a burn of USDCx on Cardano triggers a verified withdrawal that releases the corresponding USDC on Ethereum More details about xReserve: - USDC and USDC-backed stablecoins issued via xReserve support 1:1 transfers across more than 20 chains through Circle's cross-chain transfer protocol and related infrastructure - The partner blockchain team deploys the token contract on its own chain - Only select teams partnered with Circle can use xReserve - Every code change to xReserve undergoes independent audits --- ## Cardano Integration PENTAD signed the integration agreement with Circle as a deliverable under the ecosystem's Critical Infrastructure initiatives funded through the Cardano treasury via on-chain governance. Hoskinson stated that the launch date for USDCx on Cardano was set with broad wallet and exchange support planned. The PENTAD signed the integration agreement with Circle as a deliverable under the ecosystem's Critical Infrastructure initiatives funded through the Cardano treasury via on-chain governance. Charles Hoskinson stated that the launch date for USDCx on Cardano was set with broad wallet and exchange support planned. The USDCx integration supplies the stablecoin support the Cardano ecosystem has needed for some time. It provides the network with access to Circle's liquidity network and supports liquidity for DeFi dApps on Cardano. Based on on-chain activity, it seems like teams working on the integration have already been testing DEX swaps, adding liquidity will be likely the next step as well as integration into the Cardano DeFi ecosystem such as into lending & borrowing platforms. --- ## Minting Activity A USDCx policy ID of [`1f3aec8bfe7ea4fe14c5f121e2a92e301afe414147860d557cac7e34`](https://cexplorer.io/policy/1f3aec8bfe7ea4fe14c5f121e2a92e301afe414147860d557cac7e34) appeared on Cardano mainnet. Community members observed multiple mint and burn transactions under this policy ID. Key observations include: - The first mint for the USDCx asset ([`asset1e7eewpjw8ua3f2gpfx7y34ww9vjl63hayn80kl`](https://cexplorer.io/asset/asset1e7eewpjw8ua3f2gpfx7y34ww9vjl63hayn80kl)) - **Almost 14 million USDCx** were minted in span of just a few hours on February 27th - A Medium post from TapTools noted ongoing testing with swaps observed on the Minswap decentralized exchange, with liquidity under $5 at the time of observation - No public minting portal or USDCx-to-USDC conversion application had deployed yet, but it's expected it'll follow soon - The asset has had **47 mint events** as of February 28th --- ## Summary USDCx minting activity has continued on Cardano mainnet. No further official launch announcement or deployment dates for user-facing tools such as a public mint portal had been issued by Circle or Cardano entities as of the latest info, but this can change quickly and is expected to happen soon. The asset remains listed on Cardano explorers with 1:1 redeemability for native USDC through xReserve. This will be a huge boost for stable coins on Cardano.
