Circle unveils USDC Bridge for native cross-chain stablecoin transfers

Circle has unveiled USDC Bridge, a protocol-level cross-chain transfer mechanism that burns USDC on the source chain and mints native USDC on the destination chain, avoiding the wrapped-token model that has been responsible for most major bridge exploits. Cointelegraph reports the product launches with support for Ethereum, Base, Solana, Polygon and Arbitrum, with Optimism and Avalanche expected within 60 days. This is Circle's direct response to the Kelp DAO and earlier LayerZero-class bridge failures: by keeping every USDC in circulation a native Circle-issued token, there is no wrapped collateral to strand.