The Accounts API is designed for multi-chain and multi-currency support.
# Introduction to Chains and Currencies
If you are not familiar with blockchain concepts, a blockchain (or "chain" for short), is a distributed ledger of actions. Computers across the Internet use a blockchain to synchronize (agree on) a shared payment history for everyone on the network. You can think of it as a distributed database in which everyone who wants to transact records their actions according to certain rules that ensure nobody is cheating. [Bitcoin](🔗), [Ethereum](🔗), and [Algorand](🔗) are examples of chains.
A chain typically hosts one or more cryptocurrencies (or "currencies" for short) which have value. Currencies are also often referred to as tokens. Most chains host a native currency, and may sometimes have additional currencies (or tokens) hosted on the same chain. For example, the [Bitcoin](🔗) chain hosts the native Bitcoin (`BTC
`) currency, but also secondary tokens like Omni (`OMNI
`). The [Ethereum](🔗) chain hosts the native Ethereum (`ETH
`) currency, but also a wide variety of currencies and tokens, including [`USDC
`](🔗) and [`EUROC
`](🔗). Many of them follow a technical standard called [ERC-20](🔗). Similarly, the [Algorand](🔗) chain hosts the native Algo (`ALGO
`) currency, but also a variety of assets following the [Algorand Standard Assets framework](🔗), including [USDC](🔗) and [EUROC](🔗).
Occasionally a single currency can be available on multiple chains.
# Supported Chains and Currencies
The table below lists the chains and currencies currently supported by the Accounts API.
## Native USDC
Chain | Currency | API Chain Code | API Currency Code |
Algorand | [USDC](🔗) | ALGO | USD |
Avalanche | [USDC](🔗) | AVAX | USD |
Ethereum | [USDC](🔗) | ETH | USD |
Flow | [USDC](🔗) | FLOW | USD |
Hedera | [USDC](🔗) | HBAR | USD |
Solana | [USDC](🔗) | SOL | USD |
Stellar | [USDC](🔗) | XLM | USD |
TRON | [USDC](🔗) | TRX | USD |
## Bridged USDC
Chain | Currency | API Chain Code | API Currency Code |
Polygon PoS | [Bridged USDC](🔗) via [Polygon PoS Bridge](🔗) | MATIC | USD |
## Native EUROC
Chain | Currency | API Chain Code | API Currency Code |
Ethereum | [EUROC](🔗) | ETH | EUROC |
Avalanche | [EUROC](🔗) | AVAX | EUROC |
## Additional Supported Assets
Chain | Currency | API Chain Code | API Currency Code |
Bitcoin | BTC | BTC | BTC |
Ethereum | ETH | ETH | ETH |
Matic | MATIC | MATIC | MATIC |
# Using Chains and Currencies on the Wallets API
Any time you refer to a currency in the context of an Accounts API operation, you will utilize a currency and a chain pair. As an example, to [create a USDC transfer](🔗) on the Ethereum blockchain, you will specify the `USD
` currency on the `ETH
` chain. Similarly, to [create a USDC transfer](🔗) on the Algorand blockchain, you will specify the `USD
` currency on the `ALGO
` chain.
When referring to balances, you only need to refer to the currency (`USD
`, `BTC
`, `ETH
`), because the value of the currency for a Circle-hosted value is independent of the chain - and may sometimes be available on, and transferred across multiple chains.