The move takes effect immediately but shouldn’t impact the cryptocurrency’s status
Circle has announced that it will terminate support for its dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), on the Tron blockchain. The change is effective “immediately,” and the decision is consistent with “efforts to ensure that USDC remains trusted, transparent and safe.”
“Effective immediately, we will no longer mint USDC on TRON,” Circle said in a February 20 X post, adding it would slowly phase out Tron blockchain network support. Circle cited that it would still support business customers of Circle Mint that transfer USD Coin to other blockchains until February 2025.
1/ We are discontinuing USDC on the TRON blockchain in a phased transition. Effective immediately, we will no longer mint USDC on TRON. Transfers and redemptions of USDC on TRON will continue to operate normally through February 2025. Read the details: https://t.co/kw9A3ZUpWH
— Circle (@circle) February 21, 2024
The company also suggests that non-Circle customers and retail users move their Tron-based USDC to an exchange to be transferred to another blockchain where USDC is still maintained. Circle did not give details about the decision to end support for Tron, only expressing that it “continually assesses the suitability of all blockchains” as a portion of its risk management strategy.
The company added that the decision to end Tron support was the “result of an enterprise-wide approach that involved the business organization, compliance, and other functions across our company.”
Circle filed to go public in the US in January, with its USDC stablecoin commanding a nearly $28 billion market capitalization, second only to its Tether, which has a $97.5 billion valuation, according to CoinGecko.
In November 2023, Circle rejected the idea that it delivers services to Tron founder Justin Sun, saying it hadn’t done so since February 2023 after an ethics group authored a letter to US Senators asserting the company was “compromised by its integration” with the Tron network.
Sun and the Tron Foundation were sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2023, which alleged they sold unregistered securities and performed manipulative trading practices, which has been denied by Sun.
