Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) has launched natively on both the Base and Optimism networks, allowing Circle account holders to send the stablecoin from their accounts to either network. Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) has also made USDC transfers to Base available, according to a Sept. 5 social media post. Circle claimed that it is working with “ecosystem partners” to develop a system for users to swap old, bridged versions of USDC for the new, official versions.
Coinbase’s Base network launched on Aug. 9, but Coinbase users could not send USDC to the Base network from their exchange accounts at launch, nor could Circle account holders. Base users relied on a bridged version of USDC, called “USDbC,” to make U.S. dollar transactions. On Aug. 29, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced that a native version of USDC would be made available “next week,” but no specific date was given.