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USDC vs USDT: which stablecoin to use for payments in Brazil
Published on by Astron Pay
USDC and USDT are the two most widely used dollar stablecoins in the world. For a company running payments in Brazil, choosing between them involves liquidity, supported networks, transfer cost and trust. Here is how to decide.
What USDC and USDT are
Both are stablecoins pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, issued by different companies: USDC by Circle and USDT by Tether. In practice, 1 USDC and 1 USDT are worth roughly 1 dollar, and are used to hold value in digital dollars or move funds on a blockchain.
Liquidity and adoption
USDT has the largest global trading volume and tends to be more liquid on exchanges and in the Asian market. USDC has a strong presence in regulated applications and in decentralized finance. For B2B payments in Brazil, both have ample liquidity — what changes is the preference of your partner or treasury.
Networks and transfer cost
The cost of sending a stablecoin depends more on the network than on the currency. USDC and USDT exist on networks such as Solana, Ethereum, Polygon and Tron. Networks like Solana and Polygon have very low fees; Ethereum tends to be more expensive during congestion. Choosing the right network per order usually matters more than choosing between USDC and USDT.
Transparency and reserves
Trust in a stablecoin depends on the reserves backing it. Circle publishes regular attestations of USDC reserves; Tether also discloses information about USDT reserves. Assess the level of transparency your company requires before standardizing on one of them.
How to decide in practice
There is no single answer: the best stablecoin is the one your flow requires. The ideal is to use infrastructure that supports both and several networks, leaving the choice per order. That way you receive via PIX and settle in USDC or USDT, on the cheapest network, without locking into one decision.
This is Astron Pay's model: USDC and USDT across multiple networks, with the network set per order.
Astron Pay
The Astron Pay Team builds the PIX and stablecoin infrastructure companies use to receive, convert and pay in Brazil. We write about what we learn running payments in production.