USDC (USD Coin) is a stablecoin, a digital version of the U.S. dollar. Each token is redeemable 1‑for‑1 for a U.S. dollar, fully backed by cash and short‑term U.S. Treasuries held at regulated financial institutions.
The token was launched in 2018 by Circle and Coinbase’s Centre consortium and today circulates on more than 30 blockchains. Its programmable nature means developers can move dollars at internet speed across the world and build applications that treat money like software.
Why USDC matters
- Stable value: Every USDC token represents one U.S. dollar, giving businesses and users the stability of fiat currency with the speed of blockchain. Reserves are audited by a Big Four accounting firm and transparently disclosed every week.
- Instant settlement: Sending USDC across blockchains can take seconds rather than days. Circle’s Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) burns USDC on the source chain and mints it on the destination chain, enabling secure 1:1 transfers across networks.
- Programmable money: Smart contracts allow USDC to be embedded into DeFi protocols, supply‑chain automation, escrow, subscriptions, and more.
- Global accessibility: Because USDC runs on multiple blockchains, it can reach users worldwide. Circle’s infrastructure supports on‑ and off‑ramps in more than 185 countries.
USDC on Polygon
Polygon is built for payments.
Blocks settle in ~2 seconds and network fees are just fractions of a penny, making USDC transfers affordable even for micro‑transactions.
A typical token transfer on Polygon costs an average of $0.002 as determined by independent fee studies. Throughput is ~1400 and increasing all the time. Polygon’s Rio enabled throughput to 5,000 TPS and provides near‑instant finality, eliminating chain re‑orgs and making it ideal for real‑time commerce.
Real‑world adoption on Polygon
Revolut
Revolut, Europe’s largest neobank, integrated Polygon for stablecoin payments, trading and staking in late 2024. By December 2025, users had processed over $800 million of volume through the Revolut app on Polygon. Revolut has 65 million users across 38 countries, with 14 million using its crypto features. The integration allows customers to send and receive USDC and USDT instantly over Polygon’s low‑cost rails and to off‑ramp to fiat within the app. Revolut’s adoption underscores Polygon’s ability to scale to everyday payment demand and highlights USDC as a practical digital dollar.
Stripe
Stripe uses Polygon to enable merchants to accept stablecoin payments online and at millions of physical locations. Stripe’s integration allows users to pay invoices in USDC via Polygon PoS and charges a lower fee than typical for card payments. This cost advantage, coupled with fast finality, passes savings onto merchants and makes stablecoin payments more attractive. Stripe’s stablecoin payments are available in over 150 countries and work seamlessly across its checkout, payment‑intent and recurring‑payments APIs.
Polymarket
Polymarket, a decentralized prediction market, runs on Polygon and denominates every trade in USDC. Its smart contracts are hosted on Polygon’s proof‑of‑stake network, giving users low fees and rapid resolution of trades. The choice of USDC shields traders from crypto volatility and leverages regulated reserves. In November 2025, Polymarket generated $3.7 billion in 30‑day trading volume. USDC is the asset used to buy prediction shares on the platform.
Use cases: USDC on Polygon
- Consumer payments and remittances: Fintechs like Revolut use Polygon USDC rails to send money across borders without high wire‑transfer fees or long settlement times. Users can pay merchants or friends in seconds.
- E‑commerce and subscriptions: Stripe’s integration shows that USDC on Polygon enables low‑cost online checkouts and recurring subscription payments.
- Prediction markets and gaming – Platforms like Polymarket rely on Polygon’s throughput to settle thousands of micro‑bets daily.
- DeFi and tokenized assets – USDC is widely used in lending markets, liquidity pools and tokenized Treasuries. Polygon’s low fees make these financial building blocks accessible to a broader audience.
- Micro‑transactions – The network’s minuscule fees (fractions of a cent) support tipping, streaming payments, and pay‑per‑use services.
Cross‑chain liquidity with CCTP
Polygon is one of the networks supported by Circle’s Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). CCTP burns USDC on the source chain and mints it on the destination chain, enabling secure 1:1 transfers across supported blockchains. Fast Transfer mode reduces transfer times to under 30 seconds. Developers can build multichain applications that let users move USDC seamlessly between Ethereum, Avalanche, Base, Solana, Polygon and other chains. CCTP improves capital efficiency by eliminating the need to lock liquidity in third‑party bridges and provides hooks for automated actions such as depositing transferred USDC directly into a DeFi protocol.
Build a payments solution on Polygon
USDC gives builders a programmable, dollar‑denominated medium of exchange that works at internet speed. Polygon makes those transfers cheap and scalable. When you combine the two, you can offer users instant, low‑cost payments and remittances worldwide. Ready to build? Explore Polygon’s developer documentation and Circle’s APIs to start integrating USDC into your application.
