Circle Launches USDC Bridge for Cross-chain Transfers
BITmarkets Team
Apr 27, 2026
In a Friday post on its USDC X account, Circle said the bridge enables users to move USDC in a “predictable, transparent way,” highlighting a native burn-and-mint mechanism and the removal of traditional bridge complexities. The company added that gas fees are handled automatically, costs are displayed upfront, and users receive real-time updates throughout the transfer process.
Built on CCTP to streamline interoperability
The USDC Bridge expands on Circle’s CCTP, introduced in April 2023, which already supports hundreds of millions of stablecoin transfers daily. CCTP removed the need for wrapped or synthetic versions of USDC, enabling more direct and efficient transfers across networks. Cross-chain bridges, in general, aim to improve interoperability across the crypto ecosystem, allowing blockchains to function more like a unified network rather than isolated systems.
Simplifying the bridge experience has been a major focus for infrastructure providers, as earlier solutions often proved difficult for users to navigate, particularly when dealing with routing, interfaces, and gas fees.
Network support and recent developments
USDC Bridge currently supports transfers across more than a dozen Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Base, Sonic, and World Network.
Meanwhile, CCTP itself supports additional non-EVM blockchains such as Solana, Sui, and Aptos.
Separately, Circle is facing legal challenges. On Wednesday, the company was named in a class action lawsuit alleging it failed to freeze approximately $230 million in USDC that moved through its CCTP following the Drift Protocol exploit on April 1.
The lawsuit claims aiding and abetting conversion and negligence, with more than 100 participants seeking damages, the final amount to be determined at trial.
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/circle-launches-usdc-bridge-native-cross-chain-transfers