Get ready to learn all you need to know about our cryptocurrency of choice, USDC. (Image Source: Circle.com)
You might have noticed that the primary currency involved with the tournaments on Game Changer is USDC. If you aren’t terribly familiar with Web3 or cryptocurrency concepts, you might not fully understand what it is, where it came from, or what makes it viable for use cases like ours.
And you know what? That’s just fine. Just because we’re focused on fun here doesn’t mean that we can’t also take some time for education! So, if you’re curious to know more about the world of crypto, join us in this installment of the Game Changer blog.
Starting at Level Zero
Need a crash course before we can dive into the good stuff? Don’t sweat it. (Image Source: JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash.com)
Before you can grasp the idea as a whole, you should probably first understand cryptocurrency as a whole. If you’re up to speed on that, feel free to skip to the next section.
As for everyone else, here’s what you need to know:
Cryptocurrency is any form of digital currency. You might have heard of quite a few of them by now, since coins like Ethereum, Doge, and Bitcoin have all been buzzwords for several years. Each cryptocurrency is worth different amounts and has different features that make it unique, but for the average consumer, they are largely the same.
The core concept of cryptocurrency is decentralization, which in layman’s terms means taking away power from singular entities and spreading it out among the people who participate in a system. This feature of crypto is facilitated by blockchain, which keeps a secure record of every transaction that is carried out on it. That data is stored in immutable “blocks”, which are secured by cryptography and can never be changed. Different currencies are built on different blockchains.
One type of cryptocurrency is a “stablecoin”, which is a coin that is tied to the value of a specific currency, commodity, or even another cryptocurrency.
We can get into more specifics about different cryptocurrencies, decentralization, and the blockchain in other blogs, but for now we can move on to USDC.
The History of USDC
USDC started with a company you might have already heard of. (Image Source: PiggyBank on Unsplash.com)
The stablecoin was created by an organization called CENTRE - a consortium that consists of Coinbase (a popular crypto exchange) and Circle (a financial technology firm). Circle unveiled USDC to the world on May 15th, 2018, and the currency was launched four months later in September 2018.
Since then, it has become one of the premiere stablecoins in the industry, with 24 billion dollars worth of it in circulation, 1.8 million USDC holders, and $12.73 trillion in on-chain transactions since its inception.
It hasn’t always been easy though. USDC has gone through a number of ups and downs, like Visa announcing that it will allow USDC on its payment network in March 2021, or when it lost a portion of its value in March 2023 when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. It got back to where it needed to be after four days, but it was still a rough time.
More recently, Circle and Coinbase closed CENTRE down in August 2023. Circle now has sole governance of USDC, and only time will tell how that affects the coin.
What makes USDC Special?
There are plenty of things that make USDC special, but these are pretty important. (Image Source: Circle.com)
What makes USDC special is that it is a stablecoin that is directly tied to the US dollar. Each and every USDC is worth exactly $1 at all times. This makes it less ideal as an investment that will grow to insane heights like Bitcoin, but it also makes it incredibly safe and predictable, therefore more suited to everyday blockchain transactions. You’ll never have to worry about insane price fluctuations with USDC, and Circle’s dedication to transparency ensures that you always know what’s going on.
The utility of USDC is amplified when it comes to global transactions, which can be processed immediately at any time, in any time zone, for minuscule fees versus what banks would typically charge you for international transfers.
As for blockchain compatibility, USDC is natively supported by 15 different blockchains as of November 2023, with even more expected down the line. Among those blockchains are the most popular ones, including Algorand, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Avalanche.
How Does USDC Benefit Game Changer?
Game Changer had an entire world of options when picking a cryptocurrency, so why USDC? (Image Source: GameChanger.game)
With all of that said, you’re probably wondering why we have USDC front and center on our website.
There are a few reasons for that. First, is that USDC is reliable. When you scrape the floor with an opponent and withdraw your winnings from one of our tournaments, you know exactly what you’re getting. No catastrophic losses in value can occur between winning and withdrawing, and that helps us build trust with our community.
USDC is also fast with extremely low fees. That instantaneous transfer from our site to your wallet is exciting, and it’s also one of our favorite parts of the Game Changer experience. Seeing almost exactly what you won end up in your wallet is also great, which is not something that would be possible with other currencies due to gas fees and such.
Most importantly, using USDC means that our community has an instant understanding of how much a tournament costs to enter, as well as what they stand to win. In other cryptocurrencies, one coin could be a fraction of a cent or several thousand dollars, but you would have to check an exchange to know either way. USDC cuts that step out of the equation, getting you in and out much faster. We don’t want to waste your time at Game Changer, and using USDC is part of how we accomplish that.
Do you feel like you have a better understanding of USDC now? We sure hope so, and if you’re interested in more educational content like this, keep an eye out for more blog posts that fill in the blanks of your Web3 knowledge.
