By Zachary Stone
The crypto space has been in shock following the crash of USDC, a popular stablecoin issued by Circle. The crash followed the collapse of leading crypto bank, Silicon valley Bank after the bank sold its bonds at a loss and couldn’t find more investors to raise funds from.
Since USDC is pegged to the U.S dollar and Circle had $3.3 billion of the stablecoin’s reserve in Silicon Valley, the collapse drastically affected USDC. The stablecoin crashed like TerraUSD stablecoin, creating panic among the holders.
If you’re one of those holding USDC, there’s no reason to worry. There are other good stablecoin options to use and we list them in this guide. They will serve you just as much as USDC, even though they’re not algorithmic.
1. Tether (USDT)
USDT is the most commonly used stablecoin. Being also the first, it has become dear to users of stablecoins and has the highest trading volume of any cryptocurreny. Like USDC, USDT is pegged to the U.S dollar, which means its value is about as stable as the value of the U.S dollar.
It is issued by Tether Limited which is owned by iFinex, the same company that owns crypto exchange Bitfinex. According to the company, USDT is backed by U.S dollar, Euros, and other reserves that give value to the over 70 billion USdT in circulation at a 1:1 ratio.
You can use it to pay for goods and services or for any other use case that you’ve used USDC for. So far, there hasn’t been any reported issues like the one that has affected USDC. USDT is currently the third largest crypto by market cap, only behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.
It runs on Ethereum, Bitcoin, EOS, Tron, Algorand, and OMG Network blockchains. This means you can use any of these blockchains to send or receive the stablecoin.
2. TrueUSD (TUSD)
This is also a stablecoin pegged to the U.S dollar. Issued by TrustToken, TUSD is said to have U.S dollar reserves at a 1:1 ratio. Like USDT, it is a stable alternative to cryptocurrencies that can be used for buying and selling in a transparent way.
The stablecoin is highly regulated and has licenses from several regulatory bodies in the U.S. It also undergoes regular security audits to ensure that what happened to USDC doesn’t happen to it. If you’re concerned about the security of the stablecoin, there’s no reason to worry since it is designed to remove any risks to users.
There are dozens of merchants that accept TUSD as payment, so if you wish to use a stable cryptocurrency with no fear, you can use it in place of USDC. TUSD is currently the 40th largest cryptocurrency by market cap, and is one of the top stablecoins. It runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
3. Binance USD (BUSD)
BUSD is a stablecoin issued by Binance, the leading crypto exchange in the world. Like the first two, it is pegged to the U.S dollar, 1:1. Binance stores its U.S dollar reserves for BUSD in collaboration with Paxos, a regulated financial institution that issues digital assets.
The token is managed directly by Binance, which performs all the functions such as listing on exchanges, as well as minting and burning of the stablecoin. Perhaps the success of BUSD is tied to the popularity of Binance which has maintained a steady growth and its position as the go-to crypto exchange.
You can send or receive BUSD over Binance Chain and Ethereum since it was created on Ethereum and then migrated to Binance Chain.
Use Anyone You Want
So, which of these do you prefer? They’re basically the same, after all they’re all backed by the U.S dollar. The only difference is which blockchains they run on. If you want a variety of options, USDT would be the better choice.
If you don’t mind using the Ethereum blockchain and the high fees however, any of them will serve you well for whatever purpose you have in mind.