The major US cryptocurrency company Circle has decided to stop supporting its USDC stablecoin on the Tron blockchain network. Circle will immediately stop creating new USDC tokens on Tron without giving clear reasons why.
While big institutional investors holding USDC on Tron have until February 2025 to move or cash out their tokens, regular individual customers can transfer USDC to other blockchains or exchange them for traditional money right now.
Tron said they remain committed to moving forward even without Circle’s support. Last year, Circle closed the accounts of Tron’s founder Justin Sun over legal troubles with the SEC securities regulator related to allegedly inflating trading volumes and selling unregistered securities.
Ending USDC support impacts Tron itself more than individual token holders. Currently, $335 million worth of USDC is hosted on Tron, out of a total of $28 billion USDC coins globally.
In November 2022, reports came out that Tron surpassed Bitcoin for shady crypto transfers linked to groups labeled terrorists by countries including the US and Israel.
Losing a key backer like Circle deals a tough blow to up-and-coming Tron’s reputation as it tries to compete with more established blockchains. Along with the terrorist financing concerns, this latest exit by Circle continues troubling times for Tron’s future. Time will tell if Tron can recover and turn these threats into opportunities.
