Circle's stablecoin USDC is fully backed by fiat USD, auditors confirmed

Stablecoins USD Coin (USDC) issued by the cryptocurrency startup Circle have been audited and confirmed to be fully backed by fiat US dollar, according to the auditor report.

The coin was checked by Grant Thornton LLP company, a US-based division of an international organization Grant Thornton International that offers auditing, tax and financial services in 130 countries.

As on October 31, 2018, there were $127,412,240.89 kept in Circle's custody accounts, which exceeded the number of tokens in circulation (127,408,827 USDC). It means that the company could buy back all the tokens in the market at once.

The financial audit of Circle was carried out in full compliance with the standards of prepared by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). It means, that auditors selected timing, and extent of the procedures based on their judgments and the assessment of risks that the information provided by the company may be misstated or contain some errors.

From the report:

“In making an assessment of the risks of material misstatement, we considered and obtained an understanding of internal control relevant to the preparation of, and the Reserve Account Information in, the accompanying Reserve Account Report in order to design procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of such internal control.”

Circle's rivals  Gemini и Paxos also published auditing reports. Earlier this month, Tether Ltd - the issuer of Tether stablecoin - confirmed its credibility. However, it is worth noting that the US Department of Justice is investigating the case of alleged Tether manipulations that might have influenced the cryptocurrency price movements in 2017.