Move USDC between chains using Circle’s CCTP — no bridge needed

Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) moves native USDC between supported blockchains by destroying tokens on the source chain and minting Circle-issued USDC on the destination. The protocol yields native USDC on arrival rather than a bridged or wrapped token issued by a bridge operator.

A transfer follows three steps. First, the source-chain tokens are burned through a TokenMessenger call. Second, Circle’s attestation service, Iris, observes the burn and produces a signed attestation after the chosen finality threshold is reached. Third, the signed attestation is submitted on the destination chain and MessageTransmitter mints native USDC to the recipient address. Wallets, decentralized apps and Circle’s consumer-facing USDC Bridge execute that same sequence. A Circle Mint account is not required to initiate a CCTP transfer.

CCTP differs from conventional lock-and-mint bridges, which lock native USDC in a contract and issue a separate wrapped token on the destination. Because CCTP mints against Circle’s native contract on the receiving chain, recipients should verify the destination contract address against Circle’s published list to confirm they received native USDC rather than a wrapper.

Circle offers two attestation modes. Fast Transfer attests after the burn is included in a block and typically completes in seconds on supported chains, with published averages of about 8 to 20 seconds depending on the source chain. Standard Transfer waits for deeper finality to reduce reorganization risk; Circle’s published averages for Ethereum and several layer-2 networks are around 15 to 19 minutes, though some domains take longer. Fast Transfer availability varies by chain and is subject to a global Fast Transfer allowance.

Protocol fees apply only to Fast Transfers and vary by source blockchain within a published range of 0 to 13 basis points. Standard Transfers carry no CCTP protocol fee. Network gas costs are separate: senders pay to burn on the source chain, and someone must pay gas on the destination to execute the mint. The minted USDC cannot be moved onward until the wallet holds a small balance of the destination network’s native token to pay gas.

Circle describes CCTP as permissionless infrastructure that any developer can integrate. Circle has designated CCTP V2 as the canonical version and began phasing out V1 on July 31, 2026. Users should confirm both the source token and the destination domain appear on Circle’s current supported blockchains list before sending. CCTP does not change issuer redemption rules: only eligible holders of native USDC and accounts qualified with Circle Mint can follow existing redemption processes. If Circle stops issuing native USDC on either side of a transfer, the token on that domain should be treated as unsupported.