We’re excited to announce support for USD Coin (USDC) on OpenSea! Users can now use USDC to make offers, create listings, and buy items.

When we first built OpenSea, we decided to construct the experience around Ethereum, as a dapp platform and as a currency. It was the simplest option. Because most users already had some ETH, if only to pay gas, it provided an economic lingua franca. And it allowed us to streamline a new and unfamiliar buying experience. But all along, we’ve been excited about the entire token economy and we intend to grow with the maturing ecosystem and userbase.

Now, users in the US can buy USDC on Circle or Coinbase and use it on OpenSea, along with the Dai stablecoin. We’ll be adding support for other ERC-20 tokens soon, so be sure to join us in our Discord server to request your favorite token.

Bid on NFTs using USDC!

USDC is an ERC-20 stablecoin, which means that its value is protected against some of cryptocurrency’s notorious price swings. It’s not true of all stablecoins, but USDC is pegged to the price of one US Dollar. So long as the reserves are maintained, the price of each USDC should stay within a penny or two of $1.00.

The CENTRE consortium, founded by Circle and Coinbase, has crafted USDC to be different from other stablecoins in a few key ways. First, they’ve doubled down on regulatory compliance. Both Circle and Coinbase are regulated Money Transmitters. Along with any future issuers of USDC, they’re required to comply with both federal anti-money-laundering regulations and state money transmitter licensing requirements. Second, they’ve made a serious commitment to transparency. Any organization that acts as an issuer is subject to an audit by CENTRE.

In short, USDC is a token worth a dollar, and it’s backed by some seriously heavy hitters from both legacy finance and the cryptocurrency space. When you see USDC, think dollar — after all, each USDC is backed by one USD held in reserve. The difference is, these dollars live on the blockchain and enjoy all the attendant benefits! If you’re interested in dabbling in dapps, but you’re bearish on the economics cryptocurrency, USDC is for you! For more information, check out the announcement video from Coinbase.

And now you can use USDC on OpenSea to buy and sell items! When you see an item listed in USDC, you can make a purchase immediately by clicking ‘Buy Now’ and paying in USDC, pretty much like you would when making a purchase with ETH. If you don’t have any USDC, you can make offers in the currency of your choice by clicking the ‘Make Offer’ button and selecting your preferred currency from the dropdown next to the entry field. Or you can acquire some USDC on exchanges like Coinbase and Circle.

To list an item for sale in USDC, click ‘Sell’ on the item’s page, select ‘USDC’ from the dropdown next to the price entry field, specify your desired price, then click ‘Post Your Listing’.

And as always, OpenSea users can buy, sell, and bundle items with ETH or make offers on items (even on unlisted items!) with WETH. OpenSea still offers the features you’ve come to know, but now with more flexibility and the option to use a more familiar pricing scheme.

Power your in-game economy with its own token

Interested in getting in on the action? Developers will be able to use our SDK to create in-app marketplaces where users can buy and sell NFTs using USDC or their own in-game currencies. For more information on setting up native token support in your marketplace, check out our docs or chat with us in Discord.