stablecoins
A dollar, held as a token, spent by the card.
A stablecoin is a token issued to hold a fixed value, here one US dollar, with the issuer holding assets against it. Gether counts one of them today.
What USDC is, and how it is counted.
- What a stablecoin is
- A token designed to hold one fixed value. A dollar stablecoin is meant to be worth one US dollar, and the issuer holds assets against each token so that it can be redeemed. It is not a bank deposit, and it is not insured by any government scheme.
- How it holds its peg
- Two things do the work. Reserves: the issuer holds dollars and short-dated government paper against the tokens in circulation and publishes what it holds. Redemption: a holder who qualifies can hand tokens back to the issuer for dollars, and that door is what pulls a token trading below a dollar back toward it. A peg is only as good as those two, which is why the risks below start with the issuer.
- Fiat-backed and the other designs
- A fiat-backed stablecoin, USDC among them, is backed by dollars and dollar instruments held off-chain by a named issuer. Other designs back a token with crypto collateral held in a protocol, with a mix of assets, or with an algorithm that adjusts supply, and some pass a yield through to the holder. Each carries a different way to fail, and each is valued and counted on its own terms.
- USDC
- USDC is a dollar stablecoin issued by Circle. Circle publishes what it holds against the tokens in circulation and redeems them for dollars on its own terms. Gether does not issue USDC and has no relationship with Circle.
- Why Gether counts USDC first
- It is the stablecoin the collateral rail backs today, it is issued by a named company that publishes its reserves and redeems on stated terms, and it moves on the network Gether builds on. Other stablecoins are named on this site as what Gether is built for, and each is counted as the rail adds it.
- Why it counts for what it does
- Locked USDC counts for 90% of its value. That is the share the collateral rail lends against it, and the engine follows the rail rather than holding a figure of its own. The share held back is the cushion, and it is the smallest haircut of any asset because a dollar token is meant not to move.Every share, from the engine
- How it moves today
- Base is the network Gether builds on today. USDC you deposit arrives on Base at an address shown in your account, is held by Gether together with other members' assets, and can be locked as collateral from the account.
risks
What can go wrong with a dollar token.
Plainly, and in order of who is involved.
- The issuer
- A stablecoin is a claim on its issuer. If the issuer cannot redeem, or the assets it holds fall short, the token can trade below a dollar or stop being redeemable. Gether does not hold the reserves and cannot make that good.
- The peg
- A token meant to be worth one dollar can trade away from it. Your spending power is derived from what the token is worth now, so a fall in the token is a fall in what you can spend, cushion first.
- The network
- A transfer on Base is final when the network confirms it. A deposit sent to the wrong address or on the wrong network cannot be recalled by Gether.
- Gether
- You hold a balance with us, not a key, and you are exposed to us as a counterparty. The security page states this in full.Security and risk
USDC is a trademark of Circle Internet Group, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All trademarks shown are the property of their respective owners. Gether is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Circle.
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We email you once, when access opens. Every figure the card relies on is shown in the account before you spend.