# Collateral

### USDC

Traders put up USDC (Circle's digital US dollar) as their collateral for trades, and LPs invest USDC into our market-making vaults. 

We use Circle's USDC as our stablecoin of choice, as it is one of the world's largest stablecoins with a proven and safe track record, and a stablecoin that is available on several exchanges around the world (while being readily available on both Optimism and Base). It is very easy for a trader to swap out their stablecoin into USDC within our app.  We did not want to create our own stablecoin, use a less capital efficient stablecoin like DAI, or use a partially regulated stablecoin like Tether.

Learn more about USDC from Circle, the company that creates USDC.

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