Circle Internet Financial has announced that USDC, a stablecoin, is now available natively on the OP Mainnet, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, eliminating the need for bridging and offering improved transaction throughput and cost efficiency. This development allows developers and businesses to access USDC liquidity through the Circle Account and Circle APIs, facilitating faster and more affordable transactions for various uses such as trading, borrowing, lending, and cross-border payments. OP Mainnet, which employs optimistic rollup technology to enhance efficiency while maintaining Ethereum's security, boasts a rapidly expanding ecosystem of over 180 decentralized applications. The availability of native USDC, issued directly by Circle and always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars, contrasts with the existing bridged version (USDC.e), which is not supported by Circle’s services. The Optimism Foundation is assisting in the migration from bridged to native USDC. This initiative by Circle aims to empower developers and businesses by providing an open-source, permissionless protocol for building applications that benefit from OP Mainnet's capabilities.