USDC

USD Coin (USDC) is a fully-collateralized stablecoin issued by Circle Internet Financial, designed to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar. Each USDC token is backed by cash and short-term US Treasury securities held in regulated financial institutions. Polymarket uses USDC on the Polygon network as the exclusive currency for buying, selling, and settling event contracts.

For prediction market participants, USDC serves as a more stable alternative to volatile cryptocurrencies like ETH or MATIC. Since market prices are denominated in cents (e.g., a 65¢ YES share), using a dollar-pegged asset means traders don't need to account for cryptocurrency price volatility on top of their event predictions. However, users must still acquire USDC through a cryptocurrency exchange and interact with a Web3 wallet (typically through Polymarket's embedded wallet system).

The use of blockchain settlement is central to Polymarket's design philosophy: it enables borderless access, non-custodial trading, and transparent on-chain resolution that doesn't rely on a centralized intermediary. The tradeoff is increased technical complexity for users compared to traditional brokerage-style platforms like Kalshi.