USD Coin
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Base Currency
USD
-
Collateral Type
Fiat-Backed
-
Blockchains
Ethereum
-
Audit Frequency
Monthly
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Coinbase Featured Stablecoin - Coinbase has selected USDC as it’s featured stablecoin guaranteeing an exchange rate of 1:1 (USDC:USD). USDC can easily be withdrawn for USD to user bank accounts.
- Liquidity - USDC is the second most most liquid stablecoin behind USDT and is traded on a majority of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Monthly Audits - Audits are performed regularly by accounting firm Grant Thornton to ensure that USDC is backed 1:1 by US Dollars in segregated bank accounts. Circle, Ltd. frequently publishes these reports.
Cons
- Centralized - USDC is minted, maintained, and operated by Circle, Ltd. Centralized stablecoins can be frozen or confiscated in cases where a user is deemed to have broken regulatory laws or acted in an illegal capacity with the asset.
- Purchase & Redemption KYC - In order to redeem USDC for fiat, users must undergo KYC and provide identity documentation to Circle, Ltd. This is very standard procedure, and only a negative for privacy focused users.
Current Price
$1.00
Volume (24h)
$3,926,335,955
Market Cap
$55,751,726,212
Circulating Supply
55,802,605,113
Exchanges
Binance, Kucoin, HitBTC
Company
Circle Internet Financial Limited
Paxos Standard
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Base Currency
USD
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Collateral Type
Fiat-Backed
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Blockchains
Ethereum
-
Audit Frequency
Monthly
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Regulated & Compliant - Paxos Trust Company, LLC is regulated by the NYDFS (New York State Department Of Financial Services).
- Liquidity - Audits are performed monthly by the Withum accounting firm to ensure that PAX is fully collateralized at 1:1 by US dollars. These reports are then published on the Paxos Trust Company website for public viewing.
- Monthly Audits - Audits are performed regularly by accounting firm Grant Thornton to ensure that USDC is backed 1:1 by US Dollars in segregated bank accounts. Circle, Ltd. frequently publishes these reports.
Cons
- Centralized - PAX can be frozen, confiscated, or censored by authorities in the event that they believe any illegal activity has occurred or terms and conditions have been broken.
- Privacy - Trading PAX in large amounts on cryptocurrency exchanges will require KYC. In addition to this, any user looking to purchase or redeem PAX with fiat will be required to undergo KYC and submit personal identification documents.
Current Price
$1.00
Volume (24h)
$26,852,356
Market Cap
$780,570,909
Circulating Supply
778,295,415
Exchanges
Binance, Uniswap, KyberSwap
Company
Paxos Technology Solutions, LLC
TrueUSD
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Base Currency
USD
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Collateral Type
Fiat-Backed
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Blockchains
Ethereum
-
Audit Frequency
Monthly
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Regulated & Compliant - Paxos Trust Company, LLC is regulated by the NYDFS (New York State Department Of Financial Services).
- Liquidity - TrueUSD trades with reasonable volume on several top exchanges, including Binance and Bittrex.
- Audited Regularly - Audits are performed monthly by the accounting firm Cohen & Company, ensuring customers that TrueUSD tokens are in fact backed 1:1 by USD.
- Multiple Currencies - TrustToken has issued TrueGBP, TrueAUD, & TrueCAD with more currencies planned in the future.
Cons
- Centralized - TrueUSD can be frozen or even confiscated in the event that TrustToken has reason to believe users have broken the terms and conditions of use, more specifically - the laws and regulations the company abides by.
- Privacy - Required for purchase and redemption. While we are hesitant to list this as a negative aspect, there are individuals in the blockchain space that believe privacy is mandatory.
Current Price
$1.00
Volume (24h)
$74,488,475
Market Cap
$1,203,729,755
Circulating Supply
1,203,969,601
Exchanges
Binance, Bittrex Global, Kucoin
Company
TrustToken, Inc.
DAI
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Base Currency
USD
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Collateral Type
Crypto-Backed
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Blockchains
Ethereum
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Audit Frequency
Public Smart Contract
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Censorship Resistant - DAI is governed by smart contracts and therefore is the only stablecoin that cannot be seized or censored by governments or regulatory agencies.
- Transparency & Auditability - DAI is collateralized by Ethereum which is immutably verifiable on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Privacy - Transacting with DAI does not require any account creation or KYC processes. It is by far the most private stablecoin available.
Cons
- Liquidity - DAI is only listed on a few major exchanges and does not have nearly as many trading pairs compared to centralized stablecoins such as USDT and USDC.
- Dependent On Ethereum Collateral - DAI is collateralized by Ethereum which is a far more volatile asset than the US Dollar. Ethereum is orders of magnitude more likely to flash crash than fiat, introducing a much greater risk for DAI holders vs centralized stablecoins that are collateralized by fiat.
- Peg Stability - DAI is exposed to greater USD price fluctuations compared to centralized stablecoins due to being collateralized by a volatile asset in Ethereum.
Current Price
$1.00
Volume (24h)
$206,520,475
Market Cap
$6,474,876,111
Circulating Supply
6,479,382,004
Exchanges
HitBTC, Kraken, IDEX
Company
MakerDAO Foundation
Paxos Gold
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Base Currency
GOLD
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Collateral Type
Commodity-Backed
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Blockchains
Ethereum
-
Audit Frequency
Monthly
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Accessibility - PAXG provides access to fractional gold ownership with a low minimum of 0.01 PAXG, equivalent to about $15.
- Liquidity - PAXG is currently listed on several reputable exchanges, including Kraken.
- Regular Audits - PAXG is subject to regular financial audits from a third-party accounting firm in order to confirm that the tokens maintain a 1:1 parity with London Good Delivery gold. PAXG’s smart contract has been audited by three third-party blockchain security firms: Nomic Labs, Trail of Bits, and ChainSecurity.
Cons
- Asset Protection Role - PAXG issuers must comply with court orders or other legal processes, and are required to freeze or seize assets involved in illegal activity. The Asset Protection Role also compels the issuer to freeze, unfreeze, or eliminate a specified user’s PAXG balance when ordered by the appropriate authorities.
- KYC Requirements - Only verified users are able to buy, convert, or redeem PAXG tokens for USD or physical gold at approved locations. In the event that the issuer's Paxos Contractual Documentation is breached, they reserve the right to not issue, convert, or redeem a user’s PAXG tokens.
Current Price
$1,803.23
Volume (24h)
$19,155,573
Market Cap
$601,668,633
Circulating Supply
333,661
Exchanges
Kraken
Company
Paxos Technology Solutions, LLC
Gemini Dollar
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Base Currency
USD
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Collateral Type
Fiat-Backed
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Blockchains
Ethereum
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Audit Frequency
Monthly
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Monthly Audits - Gemini Trust’s US Dollar account balances are audited monthly by BPM, LLP to ensure that GUSD is fully collateralized 1:1 to US Dollars.
- Regulated & Compliant - Gemini Trust LLC is fully regulated and licensed to operate GUSD by the NYDFS (New York Department Of Financial Services).
- Strong Institutional Backing - Gemini Trust Company, LLC was founded by billionaire investors Tyler & Cameron Winklevoss and is extremely well funded.
Cons
- Liquidity - GUSD does not have sufficient liquidity across the top cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Centralized - GUSD is a centralized stablecoin issued and maintained by the Gemini Trust Company, LLC. All centralized stablecoins are subject to regulations and can therefore be censored, seized, or confiscated in the event that activity or transactions deemed illegal has occurred.
- Redemption KYC - Privacy focused users should be aware that withdrawing GUSD for USD requires personal identification documents and passing of standard KYC procedures.
Current Price
$1.00
Volume (24h)
$8,535,098
Market Cap
$168,328,637
Circulating Supply
168,519,883
Exchanges
Gemini, OKEx, Bitfinex
Company
Gemini Trust Company, LLC
Tether Gold
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Base Currency
GOLD
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Collateral Type
Commodity-Backed
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Blockchains
Ethereum
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Audit Frequency
Never
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Easily Accessible - Tether Gold (XAUt) may be acquired through Bitfinex (for limited volume) without needing to deal directly with the issuer, providing retail investors with easy access to XAUt.
- Verifiable Ownership - Tether Gold (XAUt) tokens are stamped with unique identifiers containing the serial numbers, weight, and purity of their physical gold equivalent. Using a gold allocation lookup service, holders can use this information to crosscheck the allocation and ownership of their tokens against the physical gold bars.
- Zero Custody and Security Costs - Physical gold is expensive to store and transport securely. Tether Gold (XAUt) provides holders with all of the benefits associated with gold without the attendant custody and security costs.
Cons
- Limited Trading Options - Tether Gold (XAUt) is currently only listed on Bitfinex. As Bitfinex has ceased service to US corporations and individual clients, this makes XAUt unavailable to US customers.
- Regulatory Risk - There’s no information on whether Tether Gold (XAUt) has been examined or approved by any regulator under the laws of any jurisdiction.
- Reserve Transparency - In the past, Tether Gold's (XAUt) issuer has been accused of lacking reserve management transparency. The fact that the issuer explicitly “reserves the right to modify and replace XAUt tokens from time to time in its sole discretion” in its whitepaper is a valid source for concern.
- Excess Fees - Tether claims that there are no custody fees associated with Tether Gold (XAUt) holdings. Despite this, Tether charges a 25 basis point fee of the gold's value, plus a delivery fee when you redeem the token for physical gold bars. The issuer also charges a 25 basis point fee on the value of the XAUt when redeemed for fiat.
Current Price
$1,822.43
Volume (24h)
$538,196
Market Cap
$449,273,766
Circulating Supply
246,524
Exchanges
Bitfinex
Company
iFinex, Inc.
Tether
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Base Currency
USD
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Collateral Type
Fiat-Backed
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Blockchains
Ethereum
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Audit Frequency
Infrequent
- Best For
- Pros & Cons
- Stablecoin Details
Pros
- Liquidity - USDT is currently the most liquid stablecoin available on the market, traded on almost every major non-us facing exchange.
- Multiple Currencies - Tether also has EUR (EURT) and CNY (CNHT) stablecoins in circulation.
Cons
- Regulatory Risk - Tether has long been a topic of discussion for governments and financial regulators. Recently, the NY attorney general sued Bitfinex and Tether alleging that they provided services to NY residents after they agreed to cease operations in the country. Users should be aware that is entirely possible that Tether’s legal issues will continue.
- Transparency - Tether has not been transparent with their accounting throughout the years, causing many to doubt whether the stablecoin is actually backed 1:1 with US Dollars.
Current Price
$1.00
Volume (24h)
$76,726,822,305
Market Cap
$66,017,078,786
Circulating Supply
66,232,218,610
Exchanges
Binance, HitBTC, Kucoin
Company
iFinex, Inc.