Circle vs Ethena

Circle4.7/5

VS

Ethena3.5/5

Feature	CircleVisit	EthenaVisit
Ratings
Our score	4.7/5	3.5/5
User rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet
Reserves & transparency	5.0	4.0
Peg stability	4.5	3.5
Regulation	5.0	2.0
Liquidity & chains	5.0	4.5
Redemption	4.0	3.5
Specs
Tickers	USDC, EURC	USDe, sUSDe
Pegged to	US dollar	US dollar
Backing	Cash & treasuries	Delta-neutral (synthetic)
Yield-bearing	No	Yes
Regulated issuer	Yes	No
Licenses & charters	US BitLicense (NYDFS), US FinCEN MSB, France EMI (ACPR / MiCA), UK EMI (FCA), Singapore MPI (MAS), ADGM FSRA FSP, Bermuda Class F	Not disclosed
Supply / market cap	$72.9B as of October 2026	$5.92B
Chains	Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Base, Stellar	Not disclosed
Reserve reports	Monthly reserve attestations by Deloitte & Touche, with daily CUSIP-level reporting of the Circle Reserve Fund via BlackRock.	Monthly custodian attestations and weekly Proof of Reserves reporting
Redemption terms	1:1 par redemption with 0% fees via Circle Mint for verified institutional accounts; retail redemptions via secondary exchanges.	Direct mint and redemption restricted to whitelisted users passing KYC/AML; US users prohibited
Issuer can freeze tokens	Yes	Not disclosed
Company
Founded	2013	—
Headquarters	United States	—
Investors	Not disclosed	Dragonfly Capital Partners, F-Prime Capital, Franklin Templeton, Pantera Capital +1
Strengths and weaknesses
Pros	Reserves backed 1:1 by cash and short-dated Treasuries with daily CUSIP reporting Monthly reserve attestations published by Deloitte & Touche Direct institutional minting and redemption at 1:1 with zero fees via Circle Mint Holds regulatory licenses in the US, EU, UK, and Singapore	Independent SOC 2 Type II audit completed with zero operational exceptions noted Generates organic yield from basis spreads and staked collateral without lending rehypothecation Backing assets remain in institutional custody rather than directly on centralized exchanges Processed more than $30 billion in cumulative mint and redemption volume
Cons	Circle has onchain blacklist capabilities to freeze tokens on public addresses Direct fiat redemption requires corporate KYB onboarding through Circle Mint Depegged to $0.87 during the March 2023 Silicon Valley Bank failure Reserves carry counterparty exposure to partner banks holding cash deposits	Barred from distribution across the European Union by BaFin under MiCA rules Direct minting and redemptions require KYC and exclude users from the United States Briefly depegged to $0.97 during market stress on October 10, 2025 Negative funding rate environments reduce yield and strain the protocol reserve fund
Best for	Institutional cross-border payment settlement, DeFi liquidity providers and traders, European entities needing MiCA compliance	Offshore yield seekers holding dollars, DeFi liquidity providers using collateral, Institutional traders managing basis spreads

Highlighted cells show the stronger value in each row. Data comes from each provider's site and public sources; check details before you sign up.