USDC and USDT are the two most widely used stablecoins, and both are designed to be worth exactly one US dollar. For a business, the honest answer to “which should I accept?” is usually both: they do the same job, your customers hold one or the other, and turning either away costs you sales.
That said, they aren't identical. They come from different companies, live on different networks, and tend to be popular in different places. This guide covers what each one is, where they differ, and how to set up checkout so customers can pay with whichever they already have.
What a dollar stablecoin is
A stablecoin is a token on a blockchain that tracks the value of a regular currency. A dollar stablecoin is issued by a company that says it holds reserves, such as cash and short-term government debt, to back every token in circulation, and lets eligible customers swap tokens for dollars and back.[1]
For a business, that combination is what makes stablecoins practical. Payments move like crypto, on any day, across borders, settling in seconds or minutes, but they keep the value of the currency you price in. You avoid the swings that come with being paid in Bitcoin or Ether, and your books stay in dollars.
USDC and USDT side by side
USDC is issued by Circle[2]. USDT, often called Tether, is issued by Tether. Each issuer publishes information about the reserves behind its token[3, 4], and each token is meant to trade at one dollar. Where they differ for a business is mostly practical:
| Measure | USDC | USDT |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Circle | Tether |
| Designed to be worth | One US dollar | One US dollar |
| Networks on 402pay | Solana, Polygon and Ethereum | Solana, Tron and Ethereum |
| Often held by | Businesses and users of regulated exchanges | Traders and people sending money across borders |
The last row is a generalization, not a rule. Plenty of people hold both, and which one a given customer has usually depends on the exchange or wallet they started with. That is exactly why accepting only one of them turns some customers away.
Networks matter more than the coin
The same stablecoin exists on several blockchains, and a USDC on one network is not interchangeable with USDC on another without a bridge. A customer whose USDT sits on Tron needs to pay on Tron. So when you choose what to accept, you are really choosing pairs of coin and network.
Each issuer lists the networks its token runs on[5, 6]. On 402pay, USDC can be paid on Solana, Polygon and Ethereum, and USDT on Solana, Tron and Ethereum. Both are available on Solana and Ethereum; USDC alone is on Polygon, and USDT alone on Tron. The networks themselves differ in speed and cost:
| Solana | Seconds to confirm and a fraction of a cent to send. A strong default for both coins. |
|---|---|
| Polygon | Also fast and cheap, and common for USDC. |
| Tron | Cheap and quick, and where most USDT outside Ethereum has been issued. |
| Ethereum | Where many larger holders keep their funds. Slower, and it costs more to send. |
Tron's place in that list isn't an accident: by 2023, most of the USDT issued outside Ethereum had been issued on Tron[1], which is why so many customers who pay in USDT expect to pay there.
The fee coin
Every network charges its own fee to send, paid in its own coin: SOL on Solana, POL on Polygon, TRX on Tron and ETH on Ethereum. A customer paying in a stablecoin needs a little of that coin too, which their wallet or exchange usually handles for them.
Why most businesses should accept both
The case for accepting both is simple. Your customer decides which stablecoin they hold, not you, and a customer who reaches checkout and can't pay with what they have is a customer who leaves. Accepting both coins on every network you can covers almost every stablecoin holder.
A few situations where narrowing it down still makes sense:
- You pay suppliers in one of them and want revenue in the same form, to avoid converting.
- Your bank, accountant or exchange works with only one, so the other would need swapping.
- You'd rather not receive on a network you have no way of sending from yet.
Even then, it's often simpler to accept both and convert later than to lose the sale. Whatever the coin, the payment arrives in your own wallet, and you decide what to do with it from there.
Your customer picks the stablecoin. Your job is to make sure checkout takes it.
Receiving stablecoins with 402pay
Checkout offers every coin and network a business turns on in Settings → Payments, and all of them are on to start. A customer picks USDC or USDT, then a network, and checkout shows the exact amount, a fresh address and a QR code. The payment lands whole in the business's own wallet, in the coin and on the network the customer chose.
Customers without any stablecoin can still pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and the payment arrives as crypto all the same; our card-to-crypto guide explains how. For the full set of coins and networks, see supported coins and networks.
Common questions
- Neither is better for every business. Both are designed to be worth one US dollar; they differ in issuer and in the networks they run on. Accepting both lets every stablecoin holder pay.
- USDC is issued by Circle, and USDT is issued by Tether.
- Yes. On 402pay, USDT can be paid on Solana, Tron and Ethereum.
- It's the same stablecoin, but on different networks, and the two aren't interchangeable without a bridge. A customer pays on the network where their coins already are.
- A little of the network's own coin for the fee to send, such as SOL on Solana or TRX on Tron. Most wallets and exchanges handle this for them.
References
- [1]Primary and Secondary Markets for Stablecoins. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, FEDS Notes, February 2024.
- [2]USDC. Circle.
- [3]Transparency and stability. Circle.
- [4]Transparency. Tether.
- [5]USDC contract addresses. Circle Developer Docs.
- [6]Supported protocols. Tether.
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