The Rise of the Private Dollar — USDC

By Keith Teare • Issue #283 • View online

USDC is rapidly becoming an acceptable currency for investment firms. It is secure, stable and a ready-made bridge to every other cryptocurrency. Now its parent — Circle — has started a venture fund using it, Fred Wilson advises owning it and Wall Street hedge funds are earning up to 9% interest by holding it. So why is it important?

Contents

• The Rise of USDC, Crypto and Venture Capital
• The Venture Stack
• Unicorns
• Creator Economy
• Chairman Xi and Big Tech
• Startup of the Week
• Tweet of the Week

Editorial

There are three themes this week. Firstly, the rise of USDC.

Earlier in the week, listening to CNBC, I heard one money-manager complaining that he was over 30% in cash and could only find a yield by buying USDC. Circle will pay you 7.85% a year for sitting in USDC. The US government pays just over 1% for 10-year bonds. Inflation is at or around 4%. Clearly, USDC wins for institutions…