When native USDC first went live on Polygon PoS last October, it was in response to community feedback and demand. A native version would mean better user experience and seamless capital efficiency.

Bridged USDC from Ethereum on Polygon PoS—called USDC.e—is a wrapped version of the native Ethereum token.

By contrast, native USDC on Polygon PoS is a leap towards simplifying transactions and enhancing liquidity within the Polygon ecosystem. Users are now able to access USDC directly on Polygon PoS, streamlining the process and bringing more value to users. 

In the last five months, native USDC has seen increased adoption across the ecosystem. But the migration isn’t yet complete. 

A new ecosystem-wide push is beginning now. DeFi protocols, bridges, and NFT marketplaces are helping to incentivize users to phase out the bridged version of USDC and replace it entirely with the native one. A complete migration facilitates better user experience and wider adoption of the Polygon PoS network. 

What are the benefits of native v. bridged USDC?  

Native USDC comes with a few extremely important perks over a bridged version. These include:

• Mintable and redeemable directly on Polygon PoS
• Fully reserved and always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars
• Supported by Circle Account and its APIs
• By leveraging Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), one can eliminate bridge withdrawal delays and set a new standard for blockchain efficiency.

Users and developers can inspect the smart contracts themselves. Find the addresses below:

Bridged USDC from Ethereum

• Token Symbol: USDC.e
• Token Address: 0x2791bca1f2de4661ed88a30c99a7a9449aa84174 

Native USDC 

• Token Symbol: USDC
• Token Address: 0x3c499c542cef5e3811e1192ce70d8cc03d5c3359

How does this native USDC push fit into the aggregated blockchains thesis, if at all?

Hey reader, look at you! Making connections. 

It should be noted that, for now, Polygon PoS is not connected to the AggLayer—but there has been a proposal, currently being considered by the community, to upgrade Polygon PoS into a zkEVM validium. More on that later this year. 

Still, you’re thematically onto something: The first component of the AggLayer is a unified bridge, which means that from Ethereum’s perspective, the multiplicity of chains that will be connected to the AggLayer will look like a single rollup. This “looks like one rollup but is actually many” has a bunch of cool implications, which include seamless ability to transfer tokens between chains—a “mint and burn” mechanism that can unlock native token functionality across different networks.

Again, this is all in-development, with more information coming soon. 

For now, native USDC on Polygon PoS is a big upgrade over a bridged version, providing users more functionality and better experience. 

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