Circle officially obtains a banking license, marking the birth of the first stablecoin bank in human history! This is a historic moment. CIRCLE transforms from a technology company into a US financial infrastructure! Holding USDC is as safe as holding USD. Institutions, pension funds, and interbank exchanges all value USDC at USD. This is the first stablecoin bank in human history. The following very brief text will help you understand: 1. What is OCC? Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). It is one of the "top regulators" of the US banking industry. It is specifically responsible for overseeing all "national banks" and federal savings associations. Giants like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America all fall under its jurisdiction. The OCC issues banking licenses, sets rules, and conducts regular inspections of banks. Obtaining an OCC license means that CIRCLE has officially transitioned from a "financial technology internet company" into the "regular army" of the US federal banking system, becoming equal to all the major banks on Wall Street. 2. Direct impact on CIRCLE: In the past, USD reserves had to be held in other banks. If that bank went bankrupt or was at risk, such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the past, USDC reserves would be frozen or even lost, which could lead to USDC being decoupled from the currency. Now: Circle is its own bank, capable of holding USDC reserves and safeguarding US Treasury bonds and cash. Its fate is directly linked to the system, without any third party. USDC boasts the highest theoretical level of "US dollar content" and security! 3. Impact on USDC in the past: USDC is just a compliant stablecoin issued by a technology company called Circle, and is essentially a "private currency". Now: As a National Trust Bank regulated by the OCC, USDC has become a digital dollar operating under a federal regulatory framework. This further widens the gap between USDC and USDT. USDT is an offshore, unregulated "shadow dollar," while USDC is a "legitimate digital dollar" subject to the highest level of regulation by the US federal government. 4. What will happen in the past: Pension funds, insurance funds, and large asset management companies want to use stablecoins, but due to compliance requirements, they cannot entrust their money to an ordinary "technology company". Now, it's perfectly legitimate to partner with Circle and use USDC for settlement, clearing, or as margin. This is an exponential boon for USDC's market capitalization growth. 5. CIRCLE upgrades, Tether downgrades. Previously, the highly authoritative S&P 500 rating placed USDT at the lowest risk level, while USDC was rated as the second highest risk level after government bonds. This was a signal. If the rating were reassessed today, USDC would likely be upgraded by one level. Compliance means a cleanup! After USDC expanded its target market from the "crypto" to "global financial settlement", all compliant USDT holders will be replaced with USDC. I believe this has already begun recently based on the changes in the share of both parties, and can be continuously observed through CMC. After the stablecoin bill is passed next year, there is a greater than 90% chance that USDT will be removed from the compliant industry according to the requirements of the bill, and companies such as COINBASE will see a decrease in USDT. Tether is now also promoting its own compliant stablecoin based in the United States, but time is no longer on its side. (This article will also be included in the Stablecoin section of Dayu's Anthology.)

Stablecoin banks are new banks.