Stablecoin Security Guide: How to Identify the Native Assets of USDT and USDC and Cross-Chain Bridge Support

Recently, some users accidentally discovered that the USDT and USDC on a certain chain were actually issued by a cross-chain bridge, which has attracted widespread attention. When using Digital Money, asset security is the primary consideration. Therefore, it is crucial to understand which chain the Digital Money you hold is on, as well as its officially recognized cross-chain bridges. This article will explore how to determine whether the stablecoin on a certain chain is an officially issued native asset, and how to ascertain its cross-chain bridge support.

For USDC, relevant information can be found in the FAQ section of its official website. Currently, USDC is a native asset on 8 chains, including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Tron, Algorand, Stellar, Flow, and Hedera. USDC on other chains are bridge assets. It is worth noting that although USDC on a certain chain has obtained official support and can be directly deposited and withdrawn through the official account, it is still a bridged asset rather than a native asset. However, the official support indicates a certain recognition of the asset's security.

Regarding USDT, you can view all the natively supported chains on its official transparency page. Interestingly, the "Omni" mentioned here is a pioneer of a certain technology that has been frequently discussed in the industry recently. USDT was originally issued on Bitcoin/Omni.

For non-native assets on the chain, how can we know which cross-chain bridges support them? We can check through a data platform. By entering the stablecoin tab of that platform and clicking on USDC, we can see the supporting bridges for USDC on various chains.

If you can't find information on the above platforms, you can try using a search engine or directly check on a blockchain explorer. For example, the blockchain explorer of a certain chain clearly indicates the supporters of USDC on that chain.

It is worth noting that you may be surprised to find that most stablecoins on current layer two networks are still non-native assets. However, there is no need to worry too much, as the bridged assets of these mainstream layer two networks are generally more secure compared to layer one networks. You can easily understand their risk status through relevant platforms.

This also explains why the community's criticism of the progress of a certain layer two network team's work is not baseless accusations.

Overall, it is recommended to hold native assets on mainstream chains as much as possible to ensure asset security. Otherwise, you may face the situation of "not your keys, not your coins," and worse, your assets may be issued and managed by unstable third parties.