USD Coin, or USDC, is a cryptocurrency created by Centre, a nonprofit consortium founded by Coinbase and Circle with a mission to “provide governance and standards for the future digital financial ecosystem.” 

USDC aims to mirror the value of the U.S. dollar and act as the "U.S. dollar of the crypto ecosystem." Because of this, it maintains a relatively consistent value even if other cryptocurrencies fluctuate. But before we dive into the details, let’s first understand what’s a stablecoin.

Read about USDC, the stable cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Find out how to use it and how it differs from its competitors.

What’s USDC? How to Use It

Sending cryptocurrency is a swift and straightforward process that has some key advantages over traditional banking methods. But what exactly makes them so quick and easy? The underlying blockchain technology and its decentralized architecture.

Because most blockchains are decentralized there’s no intermediaries, unlike traditional banking. Cryptocurrencies also have other features that make sending and receiving coins highly convenient. A few of these features include:

Wondering how to send crypto to your friend or invest in that NFT you’ve been eyeing for the longest time? Read our 101 guide to find out.

How to Send Crypto: A Checklist for First-Timers

Litecoin has yet to achieve volume of Bitcoin and Ethereum, but it remains one of the oldest, largest, and most accessible cryptocurrencies. As a direct descendant of Bitcoin, Litecoin has also been a crucial testing ground for many of BTC's network upgrades. Due to Litecoin's close ties with Bitcoin, both projects are very similar. However, Litecoin isn't just a carbon copy of the Bitcoin blockchain. There are many unique features and use cases Litecoin offers to crypto holders. 

Anyone interested in the history of cryptocurrency should learn what Litecoin is and its role in the crypto ecosystem.

Litecoin was one of the first proof-of-work cryptocurrencies to mimic Bitcoin's design. Learn more about what Litecoin is and the unique features it offers.

What Is Litecoin? How Is It Different From Bitcoin?

What Are Remittances? How Do They Impact the Global Economy?

Migrant communities have become a significant demographic in the globalized economy. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there were 169 million global migrant workers in 2019. Often, residents of developing nations migrate to high-income countries in search of job opportunities. And once migrants start earning, they typically send money to family members in their country of origin. 

With rising technological advancements, remittances have become a lifeline for millions of people in developing regions. These payments account for a large share of the national gross domestic product (GDP) in some countries. 

To understand the global economy, learn what remittances are and how they function.

Often, immigrants send money to their families in their home countries. Learn more about what remittances are and how they impact the global economy.

In telecommunications and software engineering, a "node" refers to a more extensive interconnected network component. In crypto, however, a node is one of the components that run a blockchain's algorithm to verify and authenticate each transaction.

A blockchain is essentially a digital distributed ledger that records all cryptocurrency transactions. As the name implies, each blockchain is a series of "chained" blocks. 

Every blockchain is made of nodes. Nodes are generally computer systems that contain a copy of a blockchain's primary protocol and its entire transaction history. Due to decentralization, any individual can run a node anywhere in the world as long as they’re connected to a decentralized blockchain network and have the required resources.

Read on to find out the various types of nodes, their functions, and what you can do if you want to run a node.

Blockchain nodes are the building blocks of the crypto ecosystem. Find out why nodes are so important and how they keep crypto decentralized and running.

What’s a Blockchain Node?

which-country-trades-the-most-cryptocurrency

Ever since its inception, cryptocurrency has been a global technology. Projects like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have provided everyone across the globe equal access to non-sovereign digital currencies and DeFi (decentralized finance) services. As long as there’s a functional internet connection, it’s easy to store and use crypto assets.

While crypto is theoretically open to everyone, some nations are more enthusiastic about digital assets than others. Learning which countries use the most cryptocurrency may help understand how crypto adoption is spreading.

More people around the world are gravitating toward crypto. Find out which countries use the most cryptocurrency and how it may impact crypto’s future.

Crypto Around the World: Which Countries Use the Most Cryptocurrency?

While NFTs (non-fungible tokens) like CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks were popular among early Ethereum users, it wasn't until the 2021 crypto bull run that more people learned about these unique tokens. Estimates suggest NFT trading volumes exploded by 21,000% during 2020-2021, and one of the biggest beneficiaries of this NFT boom was OpenSea. 

To this day, OpenSea commands a high percentage of trading volume in the NFT ecosystem. Chances are many of the NFT collections you've seen on social media are on this market. But what is OpenSea, and what makes it so popular?

OpenSea allows users to buy, sell, and mint NFTs. Learn what OpenSea is, why it is important, and how it impacts the NFT ecosystem.

What Is OpenSea? A 101 Guide

Ethereum has significantly impacted the cryptocurrency sector since its launch in 2015. Thanks to an upgrade known as "the Merge," many believe Ethereum can become even more influential in global technology. 

Given Ethereum's position as the second-largest cryptocurrency, its upgrade was estimated to have a massive impact on the future direction of crypto. Anyone interested in cryptocurrency should understand what the Merge was and how it may affect the Web3 ecosystem.

Many Web3 developers claim Ethereum's Merge is the most significant upgrade in crypto history. So what was the Merge?

Ethereum 2.0: What Was the Merge?

To combat high volatility and increase participation in a larger community, crypto projects are incorporating price stability directly into their digital assets, bringing about a whole new subset of cryptocurrencies in stablecoins. 

As their name suggests, stablecoins are intended to be volatility-minimized assets whose price mirrors fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar. To fully understand the potential of stablecoins and how they work in tandem with more volatile cryptocurrencies, we need to dive a little deeper.

An easy way to learn about different types of stablecoins and how they work. Subscribe to the Worldcoin blog for more cryptocurrency stories.

What Are Stablecoins and How Do They Work?

What Are Stablecoins, and How Do They Work?

Smart contracts aren’t a new concept. In fact, the term "smart contract" was coined in 1994 by computer engineer and cryptographer Nick Szabo. To answer “what is a smart contract,” Szabo said, “A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract."

“I call these new contracts ‘smart’ because they are far more functional than their inanimate paper-based ancestors,” Szabo said. “No use of artificial intelligence is implied. A smart contract is a set of promises, specified in digital form, including protocols within which the parties perform on these promises.”

Based on his work with cryptocurrency and digital contracts, many authors and journalists speculate that Szabo is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin (BTC). 

Wondering what is a smart contract? Read all about smart contracts and learn how they keep the crypto world transparent and reliable in this definitive guide.

What Is a Smart Contract?

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