How USDC is backed and redeemed, read from the reserve report itself.

What backs USDC?

Dollar-denominated assets held in segregated accounts back USDC, one dollar of assets for each USDC in circulation. Circle's USDC terms (last updated 12 December 2025) put it in one sentence:

Two terms carry most of the weight in the report below. A government money market fund is a fund that invests almost entirely in cash, US government securities and repos backed by them. A repurchase agreement, or repo, is a loan of cash that the borrower secures with securities; Circle's report describes its fund's repos as overnight loans of cash to global financial institutions, overcollateralized by US Treasury securities.

What was in the USDC reserve on 31 August 2026?

On 31 August 2026 the USDC reserve held $73,398,532,613 of assets, according to the reserve report Circle published for August on its transparency page. The report is signed by Circle's Chief Accounting Officer and dated 29 September 2026, and an independent accountant examined it. Here is the 31 August column, with each line's share of the total:

The fund lines add up to $62,317,374,425, which is 84.9% of the reserve. Every Treasury security listed in the 31 August column matures between 1 September and 12 November 2026. The report defines the fund in one sentence: "The Circle Reserve Fund (the "Fund") is a government money market fund under Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended." Circle Internet Financial, LLC owns all of its equity on behalf of USDC holders.

How does Circle count USDC in circulation?

Circle counts USDC in circulation as the supply on every chain it issues on, minus tokens that exist but belong to no holder, minus tokens frozen by law. The August report shows the arithmetic for 31 August 2026:

Set against the reserve, that leaves $77,775,308 of assets above circulation, a ratio of about 1.001 to 1. The test the accountant examined is exactly that comparison: whether the fair value of the reserve was equal to or greater than USDC in circulation on each report date.

Solana is one of the four chains where Circle keeps tokens that are allowed but not issued, so the supply you read on the Solana mint is not the circulating amount. We read the mint EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v on 15 October 2026 and got a supply of about 7.76 billion USDC; the report does not say how much of that is unissued. More figures, with their caveats, are in USDC on Solana in numbers, and the frozen tokens are covered in can USDC be frozen.

Who can redeem USDC for dollars?

Only holders with a Circle Mint account can redeem USDC with Circle; Circle's terms say "Only Users Type A can redeem USDC directly with Circle." A User Type A is someone with a Circle Mint account. Everyone else who holds USDC is a User Type B, and the terms state that Type B holders are not Circle's customers.

For a User Type A, the terms make redemption at 1 USD per USDC conditional on three things:

1. Holding that USDC in an account tied to a registered Circle Mint account.
2. No breach of the USDC terms or the Circle Mint user agreement.
3. No action, pending or otherwise, by a regulator, law enforcement or a court that would restrict redemption.

The right travels with the token: sending USDC to someone passes the right to redeem to them, as long as they are eligible for and open a Circle Mint account. The terms charge Mint users a fee for sending USDC on chain from a Mint account, per Circle's fee schedule, and let Circle delay redemptions it suspects are suspicious. Holders in the European Economic Area are covered by the USDC white paper instead of these terms.

In practice a business without a Mint account turns USDC into dollars through an exchange or another service, on that service's terms and fees. That step is outside the reserve, and outside Fianto too. Selling USDC on a US exchange can produce a tax form, explained in Form 1099-DA for merchants.

What does the GENIUS Act require of stablecoin reserves?

The GENIUS Act requires a permitted issuer to hold reserves of at least one dollar per stablecoin in a closed list of assets, to publish their make-up every month, and to have that report examined every month. The Act is Public Law 119-27, approved on 18 July 2025. Section 4(a)(1)(A) lists the permitted reserve assets:

• US coins and currency, or money held at a Federal Reserve Bank.
• Demand deposits, or deposits that can be withdrawn on request, at an insured depository institution.
• Treasury bills, notes or bonds with 93 days or less to maturity.
• Overnight repos and reverse repos tied to Treasuries, on the terms the section sets.
• Shares of a registered government money market fund invested only in the assets above.
• Other similarly liquid federal government assets a regulator approves, and tokenized forms of most of the assets above.

Section 4(a)(1)(B) requires a public redemption policy with clear procedures for timely redemption, and fees disclosed in plain language that can change only with at least 7 days' notice. Section 4(a)(1)(C) requires the monthly composition of the reserve on the issuer's website, and section 4(a)(3) requires a registered public accounting firm to examine the monthly report and the chief executive and chief financial officers to certify its accuracy to the issuer's regulator each month. Section 20 sets the effective date at the earlier of 18 months after enactment or 120 days after final regulations.

What the Act means for a business that accepts stablecoins is in the GENIUS Act explained for merchants. How a stablecoin differs from a central bank digital currency is in stablecoins vs CBDCs vs tokenized deposits. This post states what the documents say; it is not legal, tax or financial advice.

How can you check the USDC reserve yourself?

1. Open Circle's transparency page. It says: "USDC reserve holdings are fully disclosed on a weekly basis, along with associated mint/burn flows." It also says a Big Four accounting firm gives monthly third-party assurance.
2. Download the latest monthly USDC report. On 15 October 2026 the newest report linked from the page covered August 2026.
3. Compare two lines: USDC in circulation and the fair value of assets held in the reserve. The second should be equal to or greater than the first on each report date.
4. Read the criteria section of the report. It tells you what was subtracted from total supply, and on which chains.
5. Check that what you hold is native USDC on Solana, mint EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v. A wrapped copy is backed by whatever its bridge holds, not by this reserve; see checking real USDC on Solana.

Between monthly reports, Circle's page points to daily third-party reporting on the fund's portfolio, published by BlackRock.

What does USDC backing mean for a business paid through Fianto?

When a customer pays through Fianto, native USDC moves from the customer's wallet to yours in one Solana transaction, so the USDC is yours from that moment, along with the right to redeem it if you are eligible for and open a Circle Mint account. Fianto never holds the money: there is no Fianto balance, no payout and no conversion to dollars. The checkout only ever moves the native mint, which the backend hardcodes, so a payment can never arrive as a wrapped copy.

What changes for you is bookkeeping. Your dashboard Overview shows totals in US dollars, but the asset in your wallet is USDC, and turning it into dollars is a separate step through an exchange or a Circle Mint account. What to record for each payment is in accounting for USDC revenue, and how the checkout itself works is in the guide to accepting USDC on Solana and the docs on how money moves.