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USDC Stablecoin Becomes U.S. Foreign Policy Tool for First Time Ever

With revolutionary program, the U.S. will help Venezuelans through USDC tokens minted by President-elect Juan Guaidó

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Cover image via stock.adobe.com

Real-world blockchain adoption has accomplished an incredible milestone. For the first time ever, stablecoin-based remittances are used to circumvent the sanctions imposed by a tyrant.

A helping hand

Jeremy Allaire, cofounder and CEO of payment giant Circle, has shared news of an unusual mission of its USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin. The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve will use it to send humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.

USDC to be use in aid program
Image via Twitter

Previously, U.S. authorities seized assets that were intended for Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuela autocrat under U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions. Now they have released all seized funds to president-elect Juan Guaidó, who has been in exile since early 2019.

In turn, his government is allowed to mint USDC tokens in collaboration with Circle. Finally, the newly-minted tokens will be sent to Airtm, a blockchain-based payment system popular in Latin America.

In Venezuela, the funds will be distributed among healthcare workers in the form of AirUSD, the U.S. Dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Airtm. As a result, they will be able to claim the money through bank accounts or virtual debit cards or spend it in peer-to-peer payments.

USDC fixes this

This program is intended to support local healthcare workers with food and personal protection equipment. In Maduro's Venezuela, doctors are underpaid and the local import/export market has been totally destroyed by draconian state control.

Investment veteran and author of Bitcoin Reformation theory, Tuur Demeester, highly praised the achievement of Circle:

Congratulations Jeremy & team - that's fantastic!

It is not the first time that cryptocurrencies have replaced depreciated traditional financial institutions in Latin America. For instance, Dash (DASH) and XRP cryptocurrencies are widely used for cross-border remittances and daily payments.

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Vladislav Sopov

Blockchain Analyst & Writer with scientific background. 5+ years in IT-analytics, 2+ years in blockchain.

Worked in independent analysis as well as in start-ups (Swap.online, Monoreto, Attic Lab etc.)