USDC’s issuer, Circle, holds money transmitter licenses (MTL) in all the 49 US states that require one. MTLs regulate USDC as a stored value instrument, similar to pre-paid cards issued by PayPal and the like. Each state that issues an MTL has its own set of compliance requirements but all commonly require the licensee to hold customer funds only in certain types of assets and make available all records and information to the regulator for periodic examination.

That said, stablecoin issuers who are specifically regulated and licensed as an issuer of stablecoin are held to a higher standard of customer protection than money transmitters are.