Circle, the issuer of the USD stablecoin USDC, announced that it has officially expanded its digital currency platform into the "tokenized precious metals" market: Through its new platform CircleMetals.com, Circle has launched a service that allows users to directly exchange USDC for tokenized gold (GLDC) and tokenized silver (SILC), enabling users to exchange precious metals and stablecoins based on real-time market prices.
This new service is seen as an important step for Circle in its attempt to further integrate the traditional commodity market with the blockchain-native financial system, and it also represents that the application scope of USDC is extending from digital dollar settlement to commodity assets.
GLDC and SILC primarily offer instant exchange and precious metals exposure.
According to Circle, both GLDC and SILC support a 24/7, 365-year instant exchange mechanism. Users can convert USDC into tokenized gold or silver at any time, and can also quickly exchange it back into USDC at the market price, reducing the time and liquidity limitations of traditional commodity trading.
In terms of asset design, GLDC and SILC provide tokenized exposure to gold and silver prices, with prices referenced to existing global precious metal benchmark markets, enabling token prices to closely reflect real-world market conditions.
Liquidity linked to COMEX, emphasizing price discovery efficiency.
Circle points out that the platform's liquidity is sourced by referencing and linking to the COMEX gold and silver market model, thereby providing smaller bid-ask spreads and a more efficient price discovery mechanism. This design is primarily intended to approximate the trading depth of traditional commodity markets and reduce the liquidity fragmentation problem common in the crypto market.
On-chain issuance and settlement locks in the needs of institutions and developers.
Both GLDC and SILC are issued and settled on public blockchains, and can be directly integrated with DeFi protocols, crypto wallets, and payment applications. Circle stated that the product is positioned not only for general users, but also specifically considers the needs of institutional traders, fintech platforms, and developers who are developing next-generation financial products.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire emphasized that USDC's core concept is to provide "trustworthy and transparent digital cash," and that bringing gold and silver into the same blockchain financial architecture helps to bring traditional value storage assets into a programmable and globally real-time financial environment.
USDC's ecosystem expands again, with commodity assets emerging as a new direction.
With the addition of tokenized precious metals, USDC is no longer limited to the settlement role of fiat-based stablecoins, but is gradually developing into a digital financial settlement layer that can support multiple assets. The Circle product team pointed out that tokenized commodities are expected to play a greater role in scenarios such as corporate fund management, cross-border settlement, and on-chain risk diversification.
The market generally believes that Circle's move demonstrates that major stablecoin issuers are actively exploring the practical applications of combining "real-world assets (RWA)" with blockchain, and are attempting to build a more complete digital asset landscape in terms of compliance and financial infrastructure.
