Circle Plans CCTP Launch on Solana to Allow Users Move Solana-based USDC to Other Chains

Circle plans to launch its CCTP system on the Solana mainnet next week, allowing users to seamlessly move Solana-based USDC to other blockchain networks.

Circle first launched the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol last year but limited the protocol to certain blockchains. The latest development would see it deployed to the Solana mainnet, with an estimated arrival scheduled for March 26.

The Circle developer community’s X account disclosed the upcoming move in a recent post, revealing that the protocol is already live on the Solana devnet ahead of the imminent mainnet launch. This would allow developers on Solana to test out the system before the launch on the mainnet.

Attention builders!

Ahead of next week’s launch for #CCTP on @solana mainnet, we’ve updated our docs for developers to build out integrations on Solana devnet.

Stay tuned for mainnet availability on March 26!

🎯https://t.co/SCIz9NWfZJ pic.twitter.com/OQMSWCAAo3

— Circle Developers (@BuildOnCircle) March 20, 2024

Why is CCTP Important?

Notably, CCTP is a permissionless protocol built by Circle that allows network participants to seamlessly transfer USDC tokens from one blockchain to another. The company developed the system to address the prevailing problem with on-chain interoperability.

Significantly, blockchain interoperability remains one of the major issues plaguing the industry, as network participants on one chain have a difficulty moving assets or value to another chain without hassles.

Developers have built bridges to solve this problem, but they also have inherent risks. In addition to the stress in using them, over the years, multiple bridges have fallen victim to hacks. These include the Heco bridge exploit of last November and the June 2022 Horizon bridge hack.

Circle’s CCTP allows network participants to move USDC across networks without the risks or inconvenience associated with these bridges. Instead of locking up USDC in smart contracts like bridges do, the protocol destroys the USDC on the source network and mints the equivalent on the receiving network.

By doing so, it eliminates the use of wrapped or unofficial versions of USDC that come from the lock-mint mechanism used by cross-chain bridges. The protocol first launched on Ethereum and Avalanche last April, with Circle confirming plans to extend it to other networks.

Circle Continues to Extend Support

Currently, Circle has extended support to the mainnet of seven blockchain networks, including Arbitrum, Polygon PoS, Base, Noble, and Optimism. The planned support for Solana, which should bring the number of mainnets to eight, has sparked excitement among Solana proponents.

Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, touted the imminent development as an upcoming “big launch.” Recall that Circle introduced USDC support on Solana in October 2020. Meanwhile, the XRPL community has continued to anticipate a similar development on the XRP Ledger.