Circle inks custody deal with New York Community Bancorp

USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle has partnered with New York Community Bancorp in a deal that will see the bank’s subsidiary, New York Community Bank, become a custodian for the stablecoin’s reserves, Circle announced June 28.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone for NYCB, which has become the first community bank to hold USDC reserves.

Apart from the custody deal, Circle and NYCB will work together in developing strategies that foster access to low-cost financial solutions for underserved and unbanked communities. These strategies will leverage Circle’s blockchain and stablecoin solutions, according to the announcement.

Moreover, this partnership will see Circle and NYCB introduce support for Minority-owned Depository Institutions (MDIs) where additional USDC reserves may be held.

In so doing, Circle aims to build on its long-term goal to support underrepresented financial institutions by allocating some of USDC’s dollar-based reserves across MDIs. This goal falls under the Circle Impact initiative, which seeks to foster global economic prosperity.

Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy, Dante Disparte, commented,

By partnering with NYCB, we are opening up new pathways for community banks and MDIs across the country to be key participants in the fast growing digital assets market.

USDC continues gaining on USDT

USDC continues performing well despite the bear market. Although the stablecoin coin remains pegged to the U.S. dollar, its market capitalization has been growing steadily.

At the time of writing, USDC is the second-largest stablecoin and the fourth-largest token, with a market cap of $55.82 billion. At the start of the year, USDC had a market cap of $42.45 billion.

Tether (USDT) is the largest stablecoin and the third-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of $66.76 billion. USDT had a market cap of 78.34 billion at the start of the year.