Circle brings USDC natively to new blockchain networks to empower developers to build on a stable foundation they can trust. Native USDC is officially issued by Circle and is always redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. In the case of NEAR, historically USDC was only available as a bridged version of USDC from Ethereum. USDC.e is not issued by Circle and is not compatible with Circle Account or Circle APIs. This brings a NEAR native version of USDC on chain.