Updated Rules checked 2026-10-21
USDT and USDC are both stablecoins pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. The difference is the issuer and the reserves: USDT is issued by Tether, its reserves are mostly US Treasuries plus gold and other assets, and BDO issues a quarterly attestation report; USDC is issued by Circle, its reserves are cash and a money market fund managed by BlackRock, and a Big Four accounting firm attests them every month. By the official figures, USDT had about USD 182.86 billion in circulation on 2026-10-20, roughly 2.5 times USDC (about USD 71.9 billion on 2026-10-19).
On an exchange, the biggest differences between the two are networks and withdrawal fees. Circle stopped issuing USDC on TRON in 2024, and none of the 13 exchanges offers USDC on TRC20. On the other hand, Binance, Bitget, MEXC, BingX and Ourbit charge 0 to withdraw USDC over BEP20, which is cheaper than USDT on the same network. To swap one coin for the other, OKX, MEXC, XT, WEEX, BingX and Ourbit charge no fee, Gate, Bitget and KuCoin charge 0.1%, and Pionex charges 0.05%.
Below are the two issuers’ reserve reports, the two depeg episodes, and where regulation stands in the EU and the US. After that, the USDT/USDC withdrawal fees, swap fees and flexible savings rates of 13 exchanges are compared side by side, followed by the cheapest routes for sending USDC to MAX and BitoPro, Taiwan’s two local exchanges.
Key points
1. USDT is issued by Tether, whose reserve report for 2026-06-30 shows assets exceeding liabilities by about USD 4.11 billion; USDC is issued by Circle, which states that its reserves are 100% cash and cash equivalents.
2. Both have depegged: USDT briefly fell to about USD 0.95 on 2022-05-12, and USDC fell to about USD 0.86 on 2023-03-11 after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. Both returned to around USD 1 within a few days.
3. As checked on 2026-10-21, none of the 13 exchanges offers USDC on TRC20; Binance, Bitget, MEXC, BingX and Ourbit charge 0 to withdraw USDC over BEP20.
4. Swapping USDC/USDT is fee-free on OKX, MEXC, XT, WEEX, BingX and Ourbit, but USDC is quoted at about 1.001 USDT, so converting 10,000 USDT gets you about 10 USDC less.
5. Since 2025-03-31, EU users on Binance can no longer trade USDT spot pairs. USDC is issued by Circle under a French electronic money institution license and can still be used in the EU.
The data below was checked against official pages on 2026-10-21 (data check date) and is provided for reference.
USDT vs USDC: the differences in one table
First, the basic facts of the two coins side by side. Circulation, reserves and redemption terms all come from the issuers’ own pages, and circulation changes every day.
| Item | USDT | USDC |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Tether International (Tether group) | Circle (the EU version is issued by Circle’s French subsidiary) |
| Circulation | About USD 182.86 billion (2026-10-20) | About USD 71.9 billion (2026-10-19) |
| Reserves | Mostly US government-related assets, plus gold (more than 146 tons) and other assets | 100% cash and cash equivalents; most of it held in the Circle Reserve Fund managed by BlackRock |
| Verification | Quarterly attestation by BDO; KPMG has completed an audit of the 2025 financial statements | Monthly attestation by a Big Four accounting firm; reserves disclosed weekly |
| Redeeming directly with the issuer | Minimum USD 100,000; fee of USD 1,000 or 0.1%, whichever is higher, plus a USD 150 verification fee | Only for institutions with a Circle Mint account; individuals buy and sell through exchanges |
| Can the issuer freeze it? | Yes (the terms of service state it can freeze and blacklist) | Yes (the terms of use state it can block addresses and freeze USDC) |
| Main chains | TRON about 92.63 billion, Ethereum about 85.75 billion | Natively issued on 38 chains, not including TRON or BNB Smart Chain |
| EU MiCA | Binance delisted USDT pairs for European Economic Area users from 2025-03-31 | Circle announced on 2024-07-01 that it had obtained a French electronic money institution license and complies with MiCA |
Sources: Tether transparency page (circulation updated 2026-10-20), Tether Q2 2026 attestation press release, Tether KPMG audit announcement, Tether fees page, Tether terms of service, Circle USDC page (circulation 2026-10-19), Circle transparency page, USDC terms of use (updated 2026-10-15), USDC contract address list, Binance MiCA stablecoin announcement, Circle MiCA announcement; checked 2026-10-21.
The row people overlook most is “Main chains.” Tether’s transparency page shows that more than half of USDT (about 50.7%) is on TRON and about 46.9% on Ethereum; the net circulation in the BNB Smart Chain column is 0. Circle’s contract address list covers 38 chains and doesn’t include BNB Smart Chain either. In other words, the USDT and USDC on exchanges’ BEP20 networks are not versions that Tether or Circle issue directly on BNB Smart Chain. Using them to move funds between exchanges is fine; just be aware that they are not the same as the issuer’s natively issued version.
Is USDT safe? What Tether’s reserve report says
Tether’s transparency page lists the figures from its latest reserve report (2026-06-30): total assets of USD 187,751,825,408, total liabilities of USD 183,642,296,213, and net equity of USD 4,109,529,195. The report is attested by BDO. Tether’s Q2 press release of 2026-07-31 states that most reserves are still US government-related assets and that it holds more than 146 tons of gold.
I used these two figures to work out how thick the buffer is: 4.11 billion ÷ 187.75 billion ≈ 2.19%. In other words, the assets would have to lose more than about 2.19% of their value before they fell below the liabilities that have to be paid out. The buffer is thinner than the previous quarter’s: the headline of Tether’s Q1 press release gives USD 8.23 billion, so it shrank by about half in one quarter.
Another common question is whether Tether has been audited. An attestation only confirms the assets and liabilities on a given day; an audit examines a full year’s financial statements. On 2026-08-13 Tether announced that KPMG had issued an unqualified opinion on its 2025 financial statements, and that reserves exceeded liabilities by USD 6.814 billion at year end (Tether KPMG audit announcement). This is Tether’s own press release; for the full audit report, go by what Tether officially publishes.
What matters for ordinary holders is the redemption threshold. According to Tether’s fees page, redeeming directly with Tether requires at least USD 100,000, the fee is USD 1,000 or 0.1%, whichever is higher, and account verification costs an extra USD 150 worth of USDT. So most people sell their USDT on an exchange or over the counter, at a price set by the market rather than paid out by Tether directly.
What is USDC? Where Circle keeps its reserves
USDC is a US dollar stablecoin issued by Circle, a US company. Circle’s USDC page states that USDC is backed by 100% cash and cash equivalents. Most of the reserves sit in the Circle Reserve Fund (USDXX), a 2a-7 money market fund managed by BlackRock, which publishes the portfolio daily; the rest is cash held at a small number of large banks. A Big Four accounting firm attests Circle’s reserves every month, and the reserve breakdown is disclosed weekly (Circle transparency page).
On circulation, Circle’s Q2 results of 2026-08-05 state that USDC in circulation was USD 73.3 billion at quarter end, up 19% year over year; the USDC page shows USD 71.9 billion on 2026-10-19. On the same date, 2026-06-30, USDT stood at about USD 184.6 billion, roughly 2.5 times USDC.
USDC redemption isn’t open to individuals either. Under the USDC terms of use, only institutions with a Circle Mint account can redeem directly with Circle; everyone else buys and sells through exchanges and wallets. Circle also states that bridged versions on a chain are not necessarily backed by it: for example, USDC.e on X Layer is not issued or endorsed by Circle (USDC contract address list).
Have USDT and USDC ever depegged? The two episodes
A stablecoin “depegs” when its market price moves clearly away from USD 1. Each coin has one episode that people often bring up:
| Date | Coin | Low (reported) | Cause | Aftermath |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-05-12 | USDT | About USD 0.95 | The algorithmic stablecoin UST collapsed and the market feared contagion | Back to USD 1 the next day; about USD 3 billion of USDT was redeemed within a day |
| 2023-03-11 | USDC | About USD 0.86–0.87 | Circle had USD 3.3 billion of reserves (about 8%) at the failed Silicon Valley Bank | After US regulators announced that all deposits would be protected, it returned to about USD 0.99 on March 13 |
Sources: CNBC reports of 2022-05-12, 2022-05-13, 2023-03-11 and 2023-03-13 (prices citing CoinDesk data), and the Circle statement of 2023-03-12.
The two depegs had different causes. The USDT episode came after the UST collapse: the market feared contagion and many holders redeemed at once. CNBC reported that USDT circulation fell from USD 82.9 billion to USD 79.5 billion in a single day. The USDC episode was the risk of reserves concentrated in one bank; Circle’s statement says the USD 3.3 billion held at Silicon Valley Bank was about 8% of total reserves. Both recovered within a few days, but that doesn’t mean they will always recover in the future.
How do the EU and the US regulate USDT and USDC?
This section covers only the regulatory situation outside Taiwan.
- EU (MiCA): On 2024-07-01 Circle announced that it had obtained an electronic money institution license from France’s ACPR, allowing it to issue USDC and EURC in the EU in a MiCA-compliant way (Circle announcement). Binance, for its part, classified USDT as a non-authorized stablecoin, delisted the related spot pairs for European Economic Area (EEA) users from 2025-03-31, and suggested switching to USDC, EURI or euros (Binance announcement).
- US (GENIUS Act): Signed into law on 2025-07-18. It requires stablecoins to be backed 100% by liquid assets such as US dollars or short-term Treasuries, with the reserve composition published monthly, and gives holders priority if an issuer fails (White House fact sheet).
- Tether’s approach: On 2026-01-27 it launched a separate US stablecoin, USA₮, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. The press release states that USDT continues to operate globally and is being adjusted toward GENIUS Act compliance (Tether announcement). USA₮ and USDT are two different tokens.
Is withdrawing USDC cheaper than USDT? 13 exchanges compared
On 2026-10-21 I read the official fee pages and public APIs of 13 exchanges and put the withdrawal fees for the common USDT and USDC networks in one table. Fees are in the coin being withdrawn (USDT or USDC); “—” means the exchange doesn’t offer withdrawals on that network.
| Exchange | USDT TRC20 | USDT ERC20 | USDC ERC20 | USDT BEP20 | USDC BEP20 | USDC Solana | USDC Base | Cheapest USDC network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | BEP20: 0 |
| OKX | 1.5 | 0.28 | 0.56 | — | — | 0.3 | 0.017 | X Layer: 0.00028 |
| Bybit | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.15 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.25 | ARC, Mantle, XDC: 0 |
| Bitget | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | BEP20, Aptos, Sonic: 0 |
| MEXC | 0.5 | 0.094 | 0.17 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.18 | 0.1 | BEP20, Sui: 0 |
| Gate | 1.5 | 1 | 0.999 | 0.5 | 0.499 | 0.499 | 0.05 | zkSync Era: 0.0499 |
| BingX | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 0.15 | 0 | 1 | 0.02 | BEP20, XDC: 0 |
| KuCoin | 1.99 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1 | — | 1 | 0.5 | Sonic, Polygon: 0.21 |
| HTX | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 0.01 | 0.47 | 1.05 | 2.6 | Polygon: 0.0099 |
| XT | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.001 | 1 | 1 | XDC: 0.00000001; BEP20: 0.001 |
| WEEX | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 0.05 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | XDC: 0 |
| Pionex | 1 | 1.0522 | 1.32 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.44 | 0.08 | OP: 0.02 |
| Ourbit | 1.5 | 0.1 | 0.13 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | BEP20: 0 |
Sources: official fee pages or public APIs of Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget API, MEXC, Gate, BingX, KuCoin API, HTX API, XT API, WEEX, Pionex and Ourbit, checked 2026-10-21. Some OKX, HTX and Bitget fees float with on-chain gas; the HTX and Bitget figures in the table are rounded.
The table shows four things:
- USDC has no TRC20. Circle announced on 2024-02-21 that it would stop issuing USDC on TRON (Circle announcement). None of the 13 exchanges offers TRC20 USDC withdrawals; HTX’s API still lists the network, but as disabled. If you’re used to receiving on TRC20, you’ll need to change networks when you switch to USDC.
- USDC on BEP20 is often cheaper than USDT. Binance, Bitget, MEXC, BingX and Ourbit charge 0 to withdraw USDC over BEP20, and XT charges 0.001 USDC; the same exchanges charge 0.01 to 0.5 USDT for USDT on BEP20.
- On ERC20 it’s the other way around: USDC usually costs more or the same. OKX charges 0.56 for USDC on ERC20 but only 0.28 for USDT; WEEX charges 1.5 versus 0.5, and HTX about 1.2 versus 0.3.
- Base is a cheap option for USDC: 0.017 USDC on OKX, 0.02 on BingX, 0.05 on Gate and 0.08 on Pionex, far cheaper than USDC on ERC20 at most exchanges. The receiving side has to support Base, though.
An example of how big the gap gets: you send USD 1,000 out of Binance twice a month, 24 times a year. With USDT over TRC20 it costs 1.5 USDT each time, 36 USDT a year; with USDC over BEP20 the fee is 0. This assumes the receiving exchange or wallet supports USDC on BEP20. If you pick the wrong network, see how to recover a deposit sent over the wrong network.
Sending USDC to MAX or BitoPro: which network is cheapest?
MAX and BitoPro are local exchanges in Taiwan, so this section mainly matters to readers there. To turn USDC into New Taiwan dollars (TWD), a common route is to send it to MAX or BitoPro and sell it on the USDC/TWD pair (on 2026-10-21 both exchanges’ APIs listed USDC/TWD and USDC/USDT markets). The catch is that the two accept USDC on different networks:
| Taiwanese exchange | Networks accepted for USDC | Networks accepted for USDT | Fee to withdraw USDC from the exchange |
|---|---|---|---|
| MAX | ERC20, Polygon, Solana, Arbitrum | ERC20, TRC20, BEP20, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche C-Chain, Aptos | ERC20 0.5, Polygon 0.02, Solana 0.32, Arbitrum 0.11 |
| BitoPro | BEP20, ERC20, Polygon (TRC20 disabled) | BEP20, ERC20, Polygon, Kaia, TRC20 | BEP20 0.15, ERC20 0.3, Polygon 0.15 |
Sources: MAX public API, MAX fee page, BitoPro public API, BitoPro limits and fees page; checked 2026-10-21.
Comparing this with the 13-exchange table above gives a few low-cost routes:
- To BitoPro: Binance, Bitget, MEXC, BingX and Ourbit charge 0 to withdraw USDC over BEP20, and BitoPro accepts USDC on BEP20. This is the cheapest route I found.
- To MAX: MAX doesn’t accept USDC on BEP20, so use Polygon, Arbitrum or Solana instead. From MEXC, Arbitrum costs 0.0033 USDC and Polygon 0.011 USDC; from Binance, Polygon costs 0.12 USDC, cheaper than 0.6 on ERC20.
- OKX has two Polygon options: “Polygon” and “Polygon (USDC.e)”. The second is a bridged version; before sending to MAX, check the contract address on MAX’s deposit page and only send if the two match.
MAX’s and BitoPro’s TWD trading fees, and the full process of cashing out to a Taiwanese bank account, are covered in guides on the Traditional Chinese version of this site.
Does swapping USDT for USDC cost a fee? Swap fees on 13 exchanges
To turn USDT into USDC on an exchange, you usually trade the USDC/USDT spot pair. The fees vary a lot from one exchange to another:
| Exchange | USDC/USDT fee (maker/taker) | How it was checked |
|---|---|---|
| OKX | 0%/0% | OKX fee page (checked 2026-10-11) |
| MEXC | 0%/0% | MEXC trading pair API (2026-10-21) |
| XT | 0%/0% | XT trading pair API (2026-10-21), XT announcement |
| WEEX | 0%/0% | WEEX announcement (checked 2026-10-11) |
| BingX | 0%/0% | BingX zero-fee list (checked 2026-10-11; the list changes) |
| Ourbit | 0%/0% (all spot trading is fee-free) | Ourbit zero-fee spot announcement (checked 2026-10-11) |
| HTX | API marks it as zerofee | HTX trading pair API (2026-10-21); the zero-fee announcement only runs to 2025-06-30 |
| Pionex | 0.05%/0.05% | Pionex fee overview (checked 2026-10-11) |
| Binance | No special USDC/USDT rate stated officially (the fee page separately lists a 0.095% taker fee for USDC pairs) | Binance fee page (checked 2026-10-11) |
| Bitget | 0.1%/0.1% | Bitget trading pair API (2026-10-21) |
| Gate | 0.1% | Gate trading pair API (2026-10-21) |
| KuCoin | Class A, 0.1%/0.1% | KuCoin trading pair API (2026-10-21), KCS fee deduction guide |
| Bybit | No special rate stated officially (standard spot 0.1%) | Bybit spot fees explained (checked 2026-10-11) |
Sources are given in each row; rates are for regular VIP 0 users. A trade with no fee has no fee to give back, so there’s no referral code rebate on it either. OKX states that trades with no fee earn no rebate, and XT and WEEX state that rebates are calculated on the fees actually generated.
Even with a 0 fee, you still have to count the spread. At 11:07 Taiwan time on 2026-10-21, the USDC/USDT order book on Binance and OKX showed a bid of 1.00100 and an ask of 1.00101. Buying USDC with 10,000 USDT gets you only 10,000 ÷ 1.00101 ≈ 9,989.9 USDC, about 10 fewer. If both coins are valued at USD 1, that’s roughly 0.1% extra, about the same as the 0.1% fee Gate, Bitget and KuCoin charge. This is the spread at that moment; the price may be different when you swap back later, so check the quote before converting a large amount.
Flexible savings: does USDT or USDC pay more interest?
On 2026-10-21 I checked the flexible savings rates for USDT and USDC at the same time on three exchanges with public APIs, and worked out the annual yield on a USD 10,000 deposit (tiered rates weighted by amount):
| Exchange | USDT flexible | USDC flexible | Annual yield on 10,000: USDT/USDC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | Real-time APR 2.69%, plus an extra 4% on the first 500 USDT | Real-time APR 2.25%, plus an extra 2% on the first 10,000 USDC | 2.89%/4.25% |
| Bybit | 6.97% on 0–100 USDT, 1.97% above that | 5.3% on 0–100 USDC, 2.3% above that | 2.02%/2.33% |
| OKX | Market rate 3.5%, OKX takes 15% | Market rate 3.5%, OKX takes 15% | 2.98%/2.98% |
Sources: Binance flexible savings API, Bybit flexible savings API, OKX flexible lending rate API (with a matching query for USDT); OKX’s 15% cut is per the OKX Simple Earn page; checked 2026-10-21.
Taking Binance USDC as an example: 10,000 × 2.25% ≈ USD 224.7, plus the 2% bonus on the first 10,000, USD 200, comes to about USD 424.7 a year, or 4.25%. For USDT it’s 10,000 × 2.69% ≈ USD 268.5, plus 500 × 4% = USD 20, about USD 288.5. On this day USDC paid more on Binance and Bybit, and the two were equal on OKX. But flexible rates move with borrowing demand and bonus limits may change, so don’t treat today’s numbers as a fixed return. The full comparison of USDT flexible savings on 13 exchanges is in USDT flexible savings rates compared.
Should you use USDT or USDC? By use case
- Moving funds between exchanges or to BitoPro: USDC over BEP20 is fee-free on 5 exchanges and often cheaper than USDT.
- The other side only accepts TRC20 (some wallets or OTC trades, for example): you can only use USDT, since USDC no longer has TRC20.
- Using an exchange in the European Economic Area: Binance has delisted USDT pairs for EEA users, so USDC is the smoother choice.
- Trading lesser-known coins: most pairs are priced in USDT, so USDT gives you more choice; Binance, MEXC and WEEX also have some USDC pairs.
- Futures margin: Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget and KuCoin all offer USDC-margined futures. For fees and how to trade, see the Binance futures guide and the other exchanges’ guides. Leverage can get your position liquidated and wipe out all of your margin.
- If reserve transparency matters to you: USDC is attested monthly, and its reserves are cash and a money market fund; USDT is attested quarterly, its reserves include assets whose prices fluctuate, such as gold, and its buffer was about 2.19% on 2026-06-30.
What are the risks of holding USDT or USDC?
Neither USDT nor USDC is a bank deposit. There are five common risks:
- Depegging: USDT in 2022 and USDC in 2023 both fell below USD 1, by about 5% and 14% respectively.
- Freezing: the terms of both Tether and Circle state that they can freeze tokens and block addresses. Tether’s transparency page also lists “quarantined” USDT, tokens that stay at their original address and can’t be moved.
- Platform risk: USDT and USDC held on an exchange are in the exchange’s custody, and if the exchange runs into trouble you may not get them back. For each exchange’s proof of reserves, see exchange proof of reserves compared and exchange safety records.
- Networks and versions: USDC has no TRC20, and OKX also offers the bridged USDC.e. Choosing the wrong network or version may mean the deposit never gets credited.
- Savings products: flexible rates float and principal is not guaranteed. OKX states that redemptions may be suspended when the whole pool has been lent out; details are in USDT flexible savings rates compared.
FAQ
Which is safer, USDT or USDC?
Both have depegged before, and neither can be guaranteed to stay trouble-free; the difference is how the reserves are disclosed. USDC is attested monthly by a Big Four accounting firm, and its reserves are cash and a money market fund managed by BlackRock. USDT is attested quarterly by BDO, its reserves are mostly US Treasuries plus gold and other assets, and on 2026-06-30 its assets exceeded its liabilities by about USD 4.11 billion.
Has USDT ever depegged?
Yes. When the algorithmic stablecoin UST collapsed on 2022-05-12, USDT fell to about USD 0.95 on some exchanges and was back at USD 1 the next day. CNBC reported that about USD 3 billion of USDT was redeemed within a day at the time.
Can I send USDC over TRC20?
No. Circle announced on 2024-02-21 that it would stop issuing USDC on TRON. As checked on 2026-10-21, none of the 13 exchanges offers TRC20 USDC withdrawals, and BitoPro’s TRC20 USDC is also disabled. To send USDC, use BEP20, Polygon, Base, Solana or another network instead, as long as the receiving side supports it.
Do you lose money swapping USDT for USDC?
The fee can be 0, but the spread is still there. The USDC/USDT pair is fee-free on OKX, MEXC, XT, WEEX, BingX and Ourbit; on 2026-10-21 the quote was about 1.001, so 10,000 USDT got you about 9,989.9 USDC, and the price may also be different when you swap back.
Can you buy USDC on Taiwanese exchanges?
Yes. As checked on 2026-10-21, both MAX and BitoPro have USDC/TWD and USDC/USDT pairs. MAX accepts USDC on ERC20, Polygon, Solana and Arbitrum; BitoPro accepts it on BEP20, ERC20 and Polygon.
Why does OKX offer two options, “Polygon” and “Polygon (USDC.e)”, for USDC withdrawals?
USDC.e is a version bridged over from another chain, not USDC natively issued by Circle on that chain. Circle’s contract address list states that USDC.e on X Layer is not issued or endorsed by Circle. Before you send, check which contract the receiving side supports.
Can USDT or USDC on an exchange be frozen?
The issuers have the right to freeze them. The terms of both Tether and Circle state that they can freeze tokens and block addresses when required by law or when they consider it necessary. Exchanges may also freeze accounts for their own risk-control reasons; for what to do, see what to do if your exchange account is frozen.
Can you still use USDT in Europe?
It depends on the platform. Since 2025-03-31, Binance has delisted spot pairs for USDT and other non-authorized stablecoins for European Economic Area users, who can still sell the USDT they hold through Convert. USDC is issued by Circle under a French electronic money institution license and can still be used.
To save more on withdrawals, the fees for every USDT network on the 13 exchanges are in USDT withdrawal fees compared, and deposit and withdrawal limits are in exchange deposit and withdrawal rules. For details on zero-fee stablecoin pairs, see OKX fees; for spot fees across exchanges, see lowest-fee crypto exchanges; and referral codes for the other exchanges are collected in crypto exchange referral codes.