USDC scores 20 points above USDT (Tether), led by counterparty and insolvency rank, redemption right exercised, and reserve and assurance scope. USDC ranks #2 and USDT (Tether) #6 of 11 published stablecoins. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
USDC77
vs
USDT (Tether)57
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #2 and #6 of 11
USDC scores 20 points above USDT (Tether), led by counterparty and insolvency rank, redemption right exercised, and reserve and assurance scope.
USDC #2 of 1177
USDT (Tether) #6 of 1157
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termUSDC leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; USDT (Tether) on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermUSDCUSDT (Tether)WeightPoints
Counterparty and insolvency rank7/102/107.2+9.4for USDC+4.8 of 32
Redemption right exercised5/103/106.7+3.5for USDC+1.8 of 32
Reserve and assurance scope8/102/105.8+9.0for USDC+4.6 of 32
Seizure and upgrade authority4/105/104.3−1.1for USDT (Tether)−0.6 of 32
Net of the terms+20.7
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread−0.2
Reproduced gap+20.5
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below7757+20.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
USDCScore 77The best-documented dollar token in the pool — CUSIP-level reserve detail, a Deloitte-signed monthly examination, named repo counterparties on an SEC fund filing and a published blocklist aggregate — sold under a headline ("Always.") that Circle’s own SEC filing contradicts: outside the EEA, Circle does not redeem from anyone who is not a Circle Mint customer, and Mint is closed to individuals.Strength: Reserve and assurance scope — 8/10Watch-out: The buyer will read "USDC is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars, and EURC is always redeemable 1:1 for euros. Always." on circle.com/transparency, directly above a panel dated "As of Sep 24, 2026" (read 2026-09-29), and reasonably conclude the word applies to them. It does not. Circle’s own Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-05 states "the Company does not redeem Circle stablecoins from stablecoin holders who are not Circle Mint customers" outside the EU carve-out, and circle.com/circle-mint states "Circle Mint is not available to individuals". Outside the EEA a private holder has no redemption right at all — only an exit at whatever the secondary market pays, which is exactly what broke in March 2023. The second sting is one the first pass did not reach: even inside a Mint account, the binding agreement lets Circle suspend the account "as determined in our sole and absolute discretion" and then says that on closure or suspension you "forfeit all proprietary rights and claims against Circle in relation to any U.S. Dollar or euro funds otherwise eligible for redemption". The third: the protection most buyers assume the new OCC charter already delivers is not in place — the 10-K says Circle National Trust "will hold a first-priority perfected security interest in the USDC reserve as collateral trustee for the benefit of USDC holders" in the future tense, and circle.com/circle-national-trust still says it is only "expected to manage the USDC reserves" over time.USDT (Tether)Score 57The largest fiat-reserve stablecoin, issued by El Salvador-authorised Tether International, S.A. de C.V. under terms still governed by British Virgin Islands law — terms that expressly disclaim segregation and insurance, make the redemption right "personal to you" rather than attached to the token, gate par redemption behind a 100,000 USD minimum and a $1,000 floor fee, and whose quarterly ISAE 3000R assurance shows a quarter of the reserve in gold, bitcoin, equities, secured loans and an "Other Investments" bucket defined only as everything that is not the other categories.Strength: Seizure and upgrade authority — 5/10Watch-out: That there is no such thing as "your" dollar at Tether — and, for almost everyone reading this, no such thing as your redemption right either. The buyer's mental model is a segregated dollar held for them, redeemable on demand. The binding terms say the opposite twice over. Balances are "not segregated assets held in your name or for your benefit but reflected only in the books and records of Tether"; the reserve is defined as every asset the company owns rather than a ring-fence carved out for holders; the claim is booked as an IFRS 9 "refund liability", an unsecured payable. And the exit is not a property of the token: "The right to purchase Tether Tokens or have Tether Tokens redeemed is a contractual right personal to you" — unlike USDC's terms, which assign the right onward to "any subsequent Holder", Tether's right belongs to the verified customer who contracted for it and does not travel with the coin you bought on an exchange. Four things compound it. (1) Even for that customer the exit is gated: 100,000 USD minimum to redeem and a fee of "The greater of $1,000 or 0.1%", which is 1.0% at that minimum, not the advertised 0.1%. (2) A quarter of the reserve — US$47.1bn of gold, bitcoin, equities, corporate bonds, an unnamed US$13.45bn secured-loan book and a US$5.24bn "Other Investments" bucket defined only as whatever fits no other row — sits behind an equity buffer of US$4.11bn that just shrank 35% on a US$3.17bn half-year loss, with no custodian named anywhere and an unprovisioned New York class action disclosed on the same page. (3) The contract is construed as a British Virgin Islands contract even though the issuer redomiciled to El Salvador, so the register entry and the governing law point at different jurisdictions. (4) If you are a US Person you are contractually prohibited from holding it at all. The deepest market in crypto is not the same thing as a claim you can enforce.
Quick facts
At a glance
2 of 3 rows read the same for both.
FactUSDCUSDT (Tether)
PricingSnapshotNO PUBLIC MINT OR REDEEM FEE SCHEDULE AND NO PUBLISHED MINIMUM on any Circle surface fetched 29 September 2026. The binding contract defers to a document the reader cannot open — Circle Mint User Agreement (https://www.circle.com/legal/user-agreement, “Last Updated: September 28, 2026”) §10 Fees: “Circle may charge fees in connection with the Services. You agree to pay the fees shown to you, if any, or as separately agreed between you and Circle, when you enter into a transaction. Fees are generally disclosed on the Fee Schedule; we may change any of the fees that Circle charges at any time, with or without notice.” The linked Fee Schedule (help.circle.com/s/article/Circle-Account-fee-schedule) returned HTTP 200 with 79 characters of text (“Support Redirect - Support Loading...”) — no amounts, no minimums. circle.com/circle-mint (fetched 29 September 2026) is silent on fees and minimums and says “Circle Mint is the fastest and most cost effective way for distributors to access and redeem USDC, EURC, and cirBTC.” and, under the card “1:1 redemption”, “USDC, EURC, and cirBTC can be respectively redeemed 1:1 for US dollars, euros, and BTC through Circle.” (in August the same card read “can always be redeemed” — the word “always” is gone). circle.com/pricing now redirects to circle.com/contact/partner, a contact form, not a price list. The only fee language addressed to a retail holder is the EEA path, circle.com/legal/mica-redemption-policy (“Last Updated: September 15, 2026”), which charges nothing itself and disclaims only third-party costs: “Retail Holders are informed that third party fees may occur when payment in USD is performed on their bank account. Circle France is not liable for any such third party fees.” The legacy catalog’s six-figure Circle minimum remains unsupported: no minimum of any size appears in the USDC Terms, the Circle Mint User Agreement or circle.com/circle-mint as fetched 29 September 2026. No list price is published, so cost cannot be compared before a sales conversation.https://tether.to/en/fees (HTTP 200 after redirect to /en/fees/, fetched 29 September 2026) publishes exactly four rows: “Minimum Tether Token acquisition or redemption amount” — “100,000 USD”; “Fee per redemption” — “The greater of $1,000 or 0.1%”; “Fee per acquisition” — “0.1%”; “Verification fee” — “150 USD in Tether Tokens”. On the verification fee, quoted continuously: “This amount is non-refundable but can be part of your redemption. The verification fee is intended to ensure that only those who are serious about establishing an account apply. The fee also helps offset a portion of the incurred costs from the execution of a robust verification process. Tether maintains the sole discretion to approve or not approve accounts. By submitting a verification request you agree that the 150 USD₮ deposit is non-refundable.” Also: “Tether does not offer wallet functionality for any digital tokens. Withdrawal requests for digital tokens held by Tether are evaluated per request and can take several days to process.” WORKED EXAMPLE (label: derived arithmetic, not a quote): the redemption floor equals 10 basis points only at one million US dollars, so at the published minimum of one hundred thousand it is 1.0 per cent; a minimum-size round trip costs 100 + 1,000 + 150 = 1,250 US dollars on 100,000, i.e. 1.25 per cent. The 30 June 2026 Reserves Report (BDO Advisory Services S.r.l., signed “Milan, 31 July 2026”, still the newest on 29 September 2026) books the fee into the liability: “As per its definition, contractual redemption value of the token takes into consideration the redemption fee of 10 basis points.”
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotglobalglobal
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
USDC
77#2 of 11
Leads
Pick it when
Pick USDC if counterparty and insolvency rank matters most — it scores 7/10 to USDT (Tether)'s 2/10 there (weight 30).
Strength
Reserve and assurance scope — 8/10
Tradeoff
The buyer will read "USDC is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars, and EURC is always redeemable 1:1 for euros. Always." on circle.com/transparency, directly above a panel dated "As of Sep 24, 2026" (read 2026-09-29), and reasonably conclude the word applies to them. It does not. Circle’s own Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-05 states "the Company does not redeem Circle stablecoins from stablecoin holders who are not Circle Mint customers" outside the EU carve-out, and circle.com/circle-mint states "Circle Mint is not available to individuals". Outside the EEA a private holder has no redemption right at all — only an exit at whatever the secondary market pays, which is exactly what broke in March 2023. The second sting is one the first pass did not reach: even inside a Mint account, the binding agreement lets Circle suspend the account "as determined in our sole and absolute discretion" and then says that on closure or suspension you "forfeit all proprietary rights and claims against Circle in relation to any U.S. Dollar or euro funds otherwise eligible for redemption". The third: the protection most buyers assume the new OCC charter already delivers is not in place — the 10-K says Circle National Trust "will hold a first-priority perfected security interest in the USDC reserve as collateral trustee for the benefit of USDC holders" in the future tense, and circle.com/circle-national-trust still says it is only "expected to manage the USDC reserves" over time.
USDT (Tether)
57#6 of 11
Pick it when
Pick USDT (Tether) if seizure and upgrade authority matters most — it scores 5/10 to USDC's 4/10 there (weight 18).
Strength
Seizure and upgrade authority — 5/10
Tradeoff
That there is no such thing as "your" dollar at Tether — and, for almost everyone reading this, no such thing as your redemption right either. The buyer's mental model is a segregated dollar held for them, redeemable on demand. The binding terms say the opposite twice over. Balances are "not segregated assets held in your name or for your benefit but reflected only in the books and records of Tether"; the reserve is defined as every asset the company owns rather than a ring-fence carved out for holders; the claim is booked as an IFRS 9 "refund liability", an unsecured payable. And the exit is not a property of the token: "The right to purchase Tether Tokens or have Tether Tokens redeemed is a contractual right personal to you" — unlike USDC's terms, which assign the right onward to "any subsequent Holder", Tether's right belongs to the verified customer who contracted for it and does not travel with the coin you bought on an exchange. Four things compound it. (1) Even for that customer the exit is gated: 100,000 USD minimum to redeem and a fee of "The greater of $1,000 or 0.1%", which is 1.0% at that minimum, not the advertised 0.1%. (2) A quarter of the reserve — US$47.1bn of gold, bitcoin, equities, corporate bonds, an unnamed US$13.45bn secured-loan book and a US$5.24bn "Other Investments" bucket defined only as whatever fits no other row — sits behind an equity buffer of US$4.11bn that just shrank 35% on a US$3.17bn half-year loss, with no custodian named anywhere and an unprovisioned New York class action disclosed on the same page. (3) The contract is construed as a British Virgin Islands contract even though the issuer redomiciled to El Salvador, so the register entry and the governing law point at different jurisdictions. (4) If you are a US Person you are contractually prohibited from holding it at all. The deepest market in crypto is not the same thing as a claim you can enforce.
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
USDCLeads
Choose USDC if counterparty and insolvency rank matters most
Counterparty and insolvency rank: 7/10 against 2/10 for USDT (Tether) (weight 30)
Redemption right exercised: 5/10 against 3/10 for USDT (Tether) (weight 28)
Reserve and assurance scope: 8/10 against 2/10 for USDT (Tether) (weight 24)
USDCScore 77The best-documented dollar token in the pool — CUSIP-level reserve detail, a Deloitte-signed monthly examination, named repo counterparties on an SEC fund filing and a published blocklist aggregate — sold under a headline ("Always.") that Circle’s own SEC filing contradicts: outside the EEA, Circle does not redeem from anyone who is not a Circle Mint customer, and Mint is closed to individuals.Strength: Reserve and assurance scope — 8/10Watch-out: The buyer will read "USDC is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars, and EURC is always redeemable 1:1 for euros. Always." on circle.com/transparency, directly above a panel dated "As of Sep 24, 2026" (read 2026-09-29), and reasonably conclude the word applies to them. It does not. Circle’s own Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-05 states "the Company does not redeem Circle stablecoins from stablecoin holders who are not Circle Mint customers" outside the EU carve-out, and circle.com/circle-mint states "Circle Mint is not available to individuals". Outside the EEA a private holder has no redemption right at all — only an exit at whatever the secondary market pays, which is exactly what broke in March 2023. The second sting is one the first pass did not reach: even inside a Mint account, the binding agreement lets Circle suspend the account "as determined in our sole and absolute discretion" and then says that on closure or suspension you "forfeit all proprietary rights and claims against Circle in relation to any U.S. Dollar or euro funds otherwise eligible for redemption". The third: the protection most buyers assume the new OCC charter already delivers is not in place — the 10-K says Circle National Trust "will hold a first-priority perfected security interest in the USDC reserve as collateral trustee for the benefit of USDC holders" in the future tense, and circle.com/circle-national-trust still says it is only "expected to manage the USDC reserves" over time.
USDT (Tether)
Choose USDT (Tether) if seizure and upgrade authority matters most
Seizure and upgrade authority: 5/10 against 4/10 for USDC (weight 18)
USDT (Tether)Score 57The largest fiat-reserve stablecoin, issued by El Salvador-authorised Tether International, S.A. de C.V. under terms still governed by British Virgin Islands law — terms that expressly disclaim segregation and insurance, make the redemption right "personal to you" rather than attached to the token, gate par redemption behind a 100,000 USD minimum and a $1,000 floor fee, and whose quarterly ISAE 3000R assurance shows a quarter of the reserve in gold, bitcoin, equities, secured loans and an "Other Investments" bucket defined only as everything that is not the other categories.Strength: Seizure and upgrade authority — 5/10Watch-out: That there is no such thing as "your" dollar at Tether — and, for almost everyone reading this, no such thing as your redemption right either. The buyer's mental model is a segregated dollar held for them, redeemable on demand. The binding terms say the opposite twice over. Balances are "not segregated assets held in your name or for your benefit but reflected only in the books and records of Tether"; the reserve is defined as every asset the company owns rather than a ring-fence carved out for holders; the claim is booked as an IFRS 9 "refund liability", an unsecured payable. And the exit is not a property of the token: "The right to purchase Tether Tokens or have Tether Tokens redeemed is a contractual right personal to you" — unlike USDC's terms, which assign the right onward to "any subsequent Holder", Tether's right belongs to the verified customer who contracted for it and does not travel with the coin you bought on an exchange. Four things compound it. (1) Even for that customer the exit is gated: 100,000 USD minimum to redeem and a fee of "The greater of $1,000 or 0.1%", which is 1.0% at that minimum, not the advertised 0.1%. (2) A quarter of the reserve — US$47.1bn of gold, bitcoin, equities, corporate bonds, an unnamed US$13.45bn secured-loan book and a US$5.24bn "Other Investments" bucket defined only as whatever fits no other row — sits behind an equity buffer of US$4.11bn that just shrank 35% on a US$3.17bn half-year loss, with no custodian named anywhere and an unprovisioned New York class action disclosed on the same page. (3) The contract is construed as a British Virgin Islands contract even though the issuer redomiciled to El Salvador, so the register entry and the governing law point at different jurisdictions. (4) If you are a US Person you are contractually prohibited from holding it at all. The deepest market in crypto is not the same thing as a claim you can enforce.
Criterion by criterion
Scorecard
Published criteria · weight in points of 868 of 8 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology
Counterparty and insolvency rank
by 5 of 10weight 7.2 of 86USDC leads
USDC7/10 out of 10
USDT (Tether)2/10 out of 10
Redemption right exercised
by 2 of 10weight 6.7 of 86USDC leads
USDC5/10 out of 10
USDT (Tether)3/10 out of 10
Reserve and assurance scope
by 6 of 10weight 5.8 of 86USDC leads
USDC8/10 out of 10
USDT (Tether)2/10 out of 10
Seizure and upgrade authority
by 1 of 10weight 4.3 of 86USDT (Tether) leads
USDC4/10 out of 10
USDT (Tether)5/10 out of 10
Score dimensions
weights sum to 86
The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.
Availabilityweight 20 of 86 · constant here
USDC14/20USDT (Tether)14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
USDC14.7/30USDT (Tether)6.8/30
USDC leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
USDC2.7/10USDT (Tether)2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
USDC3.2/8USDT (Tether)3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
USDC8.3/18USDT (Tether)8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose USDC unless the term USDT (Tether) leads on is the one you are buying.
Pick USDT (Tether) if seizure and upgrade authority matters most — it scores 5/10 to USDC's 4/10 there (weight 18).
The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .
From the published order
Next best action
If this isn't your case
Other matchups worth comparing
How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
Control failure: a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.
Scored by Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · 18% (USDC 4/10, USDT (Tether) 5/10)
Insolvency failure: the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.
Scored by Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? · 30% (USDC 7/10, USDT (Tether) 2/10)
Scored by What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · 24% (USDC 8/10, USDT (Tether) 2/10)
Exit failure: you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
Scored by Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · 28% (USDC 5/10, USDT (Tether) 3/10)
Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Custody failure, Regulatory failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
USDC scores 20 points above USDT (Tether), led by counterparty and insolvency rank, redemption right exercised, and reserve and assurance scope. Published scores, out of 100: USDC 77 (rank 2 of 11 stablecoins), USDT (Tether) 57 (rank 6 of 11).
Reviewed means both products compared here was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
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