USDT vs USDC, the 2026 report
Compare reserve evidence, redemption access, network support and custody risks. The SVB weekend and the NYAG settlement show why a trading price, a reserve report and a legal claim answer different questions.
All reports
Every report we publish in English
Start with the primers, compare issuers, or find a guide for the payment or recovery problem in front of you. Historical reports separate what happened during a crisis from what the available evidence can establish today. The longer Chinese library lives on the Chinese reports page.
Flagship reports
What is a stablecoin, in ten minutes
Four families: fiat-backed (USDT, USDC), crypto-collateralised (DAI), algorithmic (Luna's UST as the cautionary tale), commodity-backed (PAXG and friends). Where the peg holds, where it breaks, how to think about which one fits which job. Written for readers hearing the word for the first time.
20 Questions New Stablecoin Holders Often Ask
Can a stablecoin lose its peg? Can the issuer freeze it? What changes when you hold it through an exchange? Twenty answers distinguish the token, the wallet and the rules that apply to the person using them.
Deep dives · comparison and risk
Is USDC safer than USDT? The honest answer (2026)
Reserve composition, regulator pressure and depeg history put side by side. The answer is messier than the headlines suggest — and the framing the question gets in 2026 has more to do with your custody choices than the issuer's balance sheet.
Four stablecoin types compared · fiat, crypto, algo, commodity
Fiat reserves, crypto collateral, algorithmic mechanisms and commodity backing create different claims and failure modes. Compare what supports the price and what happens when that support comes under pressure.
Is a stablecoin safe? Four risks worth pricing (2026)
Depeg, freezing, contract failure and counterparty collapse require different responses. Identify which risks remain with the issuer and which your choice of wallet, platform or transaction introduces.
How to choose your first stablecoin · a decision tree (2026)
Choose around a payment or holding need: the recipient must accept the token and network, your route must be available, and the reserve and redemption terms must make sense for you.
Tainted USDT and frozen bank accounts · how to avoid bad coin and what to do if you are frozen
Bank restrictions, exchange reviews and issuer address freezes are separate events. Preserve transaction evidence, identify who imposed the restriction and use the appropriate support or legal process.
Stablecoins, bitcoin and other crypto assets: how the concepts and the risks differ
Where stablecoins and bitcoin sit under crypto assets and digital currency, what a peg or a supply cap cannot prove, and the same $1,000 under three hypothetical price moves.
USDe and sUSDe: the dollar peg, staking rewards and exit risk
Holding USDe is not the same as earning sUSDe rewards. What backs Ethena's synthetic dollar, where the rewards come from, and why unstaking, redemption and a market sale are separate exits.
Can Tether freeze your USDT address? How to check the blacklist, and who to contact if it's frozen
If your wallet shows a USDT balance but transfers keep failing, the problem sits in one of three layers: the wallet, the platform, or the chain. Only the on-chain layer has anything to do with a Tether freeze, and it's also the only one of the three you can verify on-chain yourself.
Will USDT Be Banned in the US in 2028 Under the GENIUS Act?
The GENIUS Act never names USDT. It stops platforms selling non-permitted stablecoins to people in the US from July 2028, with a foreign-issuer rule from 2027.
DAI vs USDS: Differences and What Binance's Swap Changed
DAI and USDS are both Sky tokens; Sky's Ethereum converter swaps them 1:1 either way with no fee. Binance and KuCoin converted DAI to USDS at 1:1 in April 2026.
Binance USDP Withdrawals Close November 24 at 03:00 UTC
USDP on Binance can only be withdrawn now, until November 24, 2026 at 03:00 UTC. Spot trading ended September 24.
USDC.e vs USDC: What's the Difference in Your Wallet?
Circle issues only native USDC. USDC.e is minted by a bridge and has to be swapped to native USDC before it can be redeemed 1:1 for dollars.
Can You Redeem USDT or USDC Directly With Tether or Circle?
Tether redeems USDT for verified customers only: $100,000 minimum, fee the greater of $1,000 or 0.1%. Redeeming USDC with Circle takes a Circle Mint account.
Is Tether Audited? USDT Attestation vs Audit Explained
Tether says KPMG U.S. audited its 2025 financial statements and issued an unqualified opinion. Its quarterly USDT reserve reports are attestations for one date.
If a Stablecoin Issuer Goes Bankrupt, Who Gets Paid First?
USDC and USDT terms don't say who gets the reserves if the issuer fails. GENIUS Act s.11 ranks a permitted issuer's holders first, in force by Jan 18, 2027.
Case studies · what actually happened
USDC and the SVB weekend: reserves, access and recovery
Circle’s disclosed SVB exposure, the interruption in banking access and the US authorities’ response. A dated account of the March 2023 crisis and what it reveals about reserve liquidity.
Why algorithmic stablecoins fail · the Luna / UST postmortem
UST redemptions expanded the supply of LUNA while confidence and demand were falling. Follow the failure mechanism and distinguish a promised peg from collateral that holders can actually redeem.
Why USDT depegs: banking, redemption and market liquidity
Selected cases from 2018–2023, the evidence behind them, and why a USDC cross-rate cannot establish a USDT dollar premium. Revised September 12, 2026.
BUSD delisting timeline · Paxos, NYDFS and Binance 2023-2024
NYDFS stopped new Paxos BUSD issuance in February 2023. Follow the subsequent trading and support changes, and check redemption terms separately from a venue’s listing decisions.
How-to · the practical guides
Binance account setup: registration, KYC and security
Regional eligibility, the public sign-up screen, optional referral association and checks before the first deposit. Published September 12, 2026.
How to cash out stablecoins · four off-ramps compared (2026)
Compare cash-out routes by eligibility, the amount that reaches your bank, required records and the party responsible if a payment stalls. A headline trading fee is only one part of the cost.
Stablecoin Cross-Chain Tutorial: Routes and Risks
Start with the token the recipient accepts. Compare issuer burn-and-mint, liquidity routes, wrapped assets and exchange transfers, then inspect the quoted output and failure-handling rules.
USDT sent on the wrong chain · what is actually recoverable
Find the actual destination using the transaction hash. Ordinary wallets, contract wallets, exchange deposits and missing memos have different recovery paths; no service can guarantee an outcome.
What to do when a stablecoin falls below $1 · a five-step emergency checklist
Check where the price comes from, what can actually be traded and the redemption terms, keep the records, and avoid deciding by a fixed price level or a countdown.
Your wallet was drained: seed phrase leak or malicious approval, and the seven steps that follow
Tell a compromised key from a malicious token approval first, because the fixes differ. Then seven steps, from a clean wallet to the evidence you keep.
USDT deposit not showing: how to tell a slow transfer from a real problem
There is no universal number of minutes. Separate sender processing, on-chain confirmation and exchange crediting, and know what to check on each of five networks.
Regulation and issuers
Tether and the 2021 NYAG settlement · what was actually found
A close read of the 2021 NYAG settlement with Bitfinex and Tether: the $18.5M fine, the reserve disclosure regime that followed, and what the order does and does not say. The version that cuts through the press releases.
EURC · Circle's euro stablecoin and the MiCA framework
EURC targets the euro, so holding it does not remove euro-to-dollar exchange-rate risk. Examine Circle’s issuer terms, reserve disclosures, available routes and the EEA regulatory framework.
FDUSD: Issuer, Custody and Redemption
Separate FD121’s role as issuer from reserve custody, attestations and exchange availability. A Hong Kong connection alone does not establish an HKMA stablecoin licence.
PYUSD: PayPal, Paxos and Supported Networks
PayPal provides a distribution channel, Paxos issues the token, and supported blockchains carry it. Adding a network does not change the issuer or make every PayPal feature available worldwide.
History and transparency
Stablecoin Reserve Transparency: Read the Evidence
Read the report date, responsible entity, scope and exceptions. Reserve attestations, company financial audits and redemption terms answer different questions; none is a safety rating by itself.
Stablecoin history 2014-2026 · from Realcoin to MiCA, twelve years in
A twelve-year history of stablecoins, year by year. Realcoin, Tether, MakerDAO, the 2021 boom, Luna's collapse, SVB, BUSD, MiCA, HKMA — the full arc, with the moments that mattered and the ones the early press got wrong.
Which app should you buy stablecoins on? A by-region answer
Compare the venue and payment route available to your jurisdiction. The September revision separates Gemini’s stablecoin-pair fees from ordinary spot fees and explains how to compare a complete purchase.
The longer Chinese library
The Chinese edition has been running longer and covers more ground. If you read Mandarin, the Chinese reports page has the full catalogue: cross-border USDT settlement, hardware wallets for USDT, the BUSD timeline, the Luna postmortem, six jurisdictions of tax treatment, China-specific OTC routes, and more. Pieces marked as cornerstone are translated for the English edition over time.
Want to suggest a topic or flag something the existing pieces are missing? Email [email protected].