A stable U.S. banking system where deposits are safe and accessible is essential to the global financial system and to the operations of every fiat-backed stablecoin.
That was recognized by the U.S. government’s actions on Sunday, March 12, when the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve and the FDIC together stepped in to ensure that ordinary depositors were not harmed by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Since the failures of Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank, our core transaction banking partners, our teams have been working around the clock to restore USDC liquidity operations, including bringing on new transaction banking partners. We began processing minting and redemption requests on Monday morning, March 13, when the U.S. banking system re-opened, and are currently working through the backlog. We have more to do here, including adding new transaction banking partners with 24/7/365 capability, and we will keep our community posted on our progress.
Yesterday, March 13, Circle has redeemed $2.9B USDC and minted $0.7B USDC.
Moreover, as part of our ongoing initiatives to strengthen the USDC reserve, we now hold the cash portion of the reserve at BNY Mellon, except for limited funds held at transaction banking partners in support of USDC minting and redemption. The majority of the reserve is invested in the Circle Reserve Fund, managed by BlackRock and custodied at BNYM, which is principally comprised of short dated U.S. Treasuries.
