Circle Gateway is a new crosschain primitive enabling a unified USDC balance, unlocking instant crosschain liquidity in <500 ms.
With Circle Gateway, users can hold a balance in USDC across multiple chains and use it on any chain instantly, without having to move it manually or rely on external liquidity.
At the same time, they maintain the ownership and control over their USDC that is native to blockchains. Gateway enables a user experience where access to USDC is immediate and universal, and ownership is always preserved by the user.
Gateway allows users to front-load the finalization wait time rather than requiring finality in the middle of a transfer flow. This enables users to use all of their USDC instantly on any chain (even in amounts exceeding the balance held on any single chain), without needing to decide beforehand what amount or destination is needed. As such, it's optimized for use-cases requiring capital efficiency, low latency, and chain abstraction.
Gateway has been designed for businesses and developers facing pain points from multichain liquidity fragmentation and crosschain friction between chains.
No, Gateway does not require sign-up with Circle. Gateway is permissionless crosschain infrastructure that is available for all users and developers.
Fees for using Circle Gateway vary based on several factors, including the source blockchain where USDC is being transferred from and the size of the transaction. Each transfer includes a base fee that covers the gas costs incurred during the burn process on the source chain. In addition to these network-related costs, a percentage-based fee is applied based on the transaction size to support operational and infrastructure needs.
To support early adopters and encourage adoption, Circle is currently offering a promotional rate of 0.005% (half a basis point) on all instant crosschain transfers. This promotional fee structure reflects Circle's commitment to providing low-cost access to high-speed, non-custodial USDC transfers across multiple blockchains. Importantly, transfers where the source and destination domains are the same don't incur the additional 0.005% fee, as these are treated as instant withdrawals from the Gateway smart contract without invoking crosschain functions.
As the Gateway network continues to scale and mature, this promotional pricing may be revised. Users and partners maintaining high volume and balances during the promotional period may be prioritized for eligibility to extend the promotional pricing beyond the standard window. This consideration reflects Circle's intention to reward early participation and meaningful engagement with Gateway.
If you have further questions about the current fee structure or would like to discuss long-term pricing options, reach out to Circle directly via the Discord support channel or your Circle account representative.
USDC deposited to the GatewayWallet smart contract is fully controlled by the user, and remains in the contract until the user has provided a signed request to move assets.
In the unlikely event that Circle's APIs are down for an extended period or service is unavailable for any other reason, users can trustlessly withdraw USDC with a delay.
First, make a contract call to the
initiateWithdrawal
method on the Gateway Wallet contract with the desired amount to withdrawal.
After a delay of 7 days, make a contract call to the withdraw method to complete
the withdrawal.
Yes, Gateway smart contracts have been audited by two separate firms.
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