Differences in Price Stablecoins: USDT (Tether), DAI and USDC

Recently, in my block potential article, I often discuss new applications of the price stablecoin DAI. For example, DAI holders can:

1. Put DAI in Compound "Deposit earns interest" , the annual interest rate is between 0% and 15%
2. Put DAI in the PoolTogether to "exchange the lottery ticket for a stable profit without losing money", the lottery tickets that did not win can be exchanged for 100% of the original DAI

Although there are more and more applications of DAI, and it can be said to be the dollar of the decentralized finance (DeFi) world. But the current situation is that the vast majority of people are quite unfamiliar with DAI, and instead hear about Tether (USDT) more often.

After all, most exchanges have listed the USDT stablecoin, which is the most common and oldest price stablecoin. In addition, some readers have reported that they have often heard people recommend USDC as a price stablecoin recently, saying that it is safer than USDT, and now even MaiCoin can be bought.

Therefore, several readers wrote back to ask me whether there is a Muggle version of USDT, DAI and USDC? Yes, here it comes.

simple distinction

1. USDT: Tether company subjectively decides the number and timing of additional issuance and reduction, and operates underground.
2. Dai: It is issued by the user holding the collateral (Ether) to the smart contract.
3. USDC: It is jointly issued by Coinbase and Circle. Like USDT, it is a subjective decision on the number and timing of additional issuance and reduction, and is regulated by the US government.

Price: all the same

If it is to be used for trading, the prices of USDT, DAI and USDC are all roughly maintained at around $1. Occasionally there are fluctuations, just as sometimes the US dollar is more expensive and sometimes it is cheaper.

1. USDT: 1 USD
2. Dai: $1
3. USDC: 1 USD

Popularity: USDT > DAI = USDC

USDT is the oldest stablecoin, and trust is accumulated over time. Not only the most users know USDT, but also the most exchanges list this stable currency.

1. USDT: Introduced in 2015, most people use it, and it is also the easiest to obtain from exchanges.
2. Dai: It came out in 2017 and has few users.
3. USDC: It came out in 2018 and has few users.

Legal: USDC > DAI ~ USDT

Coinbase and Circle, the issuers of USDC, have legal licenses in the United States. In contrast, DAI is issued by users operating smart contracts themselves, similar to vending machines. DAI is a digital commodity sold in a vending machine. The Tether company, the issuer of USDT, changes places every few years, which can be regarded as an underground operation.

1. USDT: underground operation
2. DAI: Digital Goods
3. USDC: The most law-abiding

Decentralization: DAI > USDC = USDT

The timing and quantity of DAI issuance are determined by the user, and anyone can operate the smart contract with ether (ETH). In contrast, both USDC and USDT are issued by the company to decide the timing and quantity.

1. USDT: Centralization
2. DAI: Decentralization
3. USDC: Centralization

Personal preference: DAI > USDC > USDT

I myself "use" cryptocurrencies a lot and invest very little. Therefore, DAI allows me to experience more financial innovation applications, and USDC also has some, but USDT can be said to be purely investment purposes.

Although DAI is still not easy to obtain, as far as I know, various exchanges in Taiwan are already preparing to list DAI transactions, so that people can directly buy the US dollar in the blockchain world-DAI with NT dollars. I also believe that in the future, the blockchain applications that accept payment in DAI will be much larger than USDT, and USDC will be in the middle.