Circle’s $3.3 billion Cash Exposure to Silicon Valley Bank Remains

USDC, which is meant to maintain its peg despite market conditions, went downhill. The price of the stablecoin depegged and fell initially to $0.95, then to $0.90, and currently stands at $0.9049, with a 9.51% drop in value over the last 24 hours. Circle has reportedly sent 314 million USDC to a null address as redemptions begin, signaling a strategic move to help restore the value of the stablecoin. This move is expected to pave the way for USDC to regain its 1:1 parity with the U.S. dollar.

Silicon Valley Bank is one of six banking partners Circle uses for managing the ~25% portion of USDC reserves held in cash. While we await clarity on how the FDIC receivership of SVB will impact its depositors, Circle and USDC continue to operate normally.

Circle is currently protecting USDC from a black swan failure in the U.S. banking system. SVB Financial is a critical bank in the U.S. economy and its failure – without a Federal rescue plan – will have broader implications for business, banking and entrepreneurs. As with Silvergate, our teams have worked at speed to limit any exposure to banks. This includes a wire transfer request made before SVB’s FDIC receivership. A $3.3 billion cash exposure remains – but we follow state and Federal regulatory guidance.

Press Release from Circle

Following the joint announcement by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. prudential regulators, all depositors with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which was closed by regulators today, will be made whole.

The $3.3B USDC reserve deposit held at Silicon Valley Bank, about 8% of the USDC total reserve, will be fully available when U.S. banks open tomorrow morning. No USDC cash reserves were held at Signature Bank. As a regulated payment token, USDC remains redeemable 1:1 with the U.S. Dollar.

As part of our commitment to expanding banking partnerships, Circle is also announcing automated USDC minting and redemption for customers via new banking partners that go live this week.

“Trust, safety and 1:1 redeemability of all USDC in circulation is of paramount importance to Circle, even in the face of bank contagion affecting crypto markets,” said Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder and CEO of Circle. “We are heartened to see the U.S. government and financial regulators take crucial steps to mitigate risks extending from the banking system.

We’ve long advocated for full-reserve digital currency banking that insulates our base layer of internet money and payment systems from fractional reserve banking risk.”

On March 11, 2023, Circle shared details about the USDC reserve, stating it is currently collateralized 77% ($32.4B) with short-dated U.S. Treasury Bills. U.S. Treasury Bills are the most liquid assets in the world and are direct obligations of the U.S. government.

These reserves are held in custody by BNY Mellon and active liquidity and asset management is done by BlackRock. The cash portion of the USDC reserve, 23% ($9.7B), is now held primarily at BNY Mellon.

Anyone can view the entire liquidity ladder down to the CUSIP number on T-Bills via the USDXX ticker, and monthly USDC attestation reports, including the latest report from January, 2023, are available in the Trust & Transparency section of Circle’s website.