Circle trims USDC cross-chain settlement time down to seconds with protocol update

Circle, issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin USDC, has launched a protocol update it says reduces cross-chain transaction settlement time “to seconds,” compared to an average of 13 to 19 minutes for a typical blockchain transaction between Ethereum and Layer 2 blockchains.According to Circle, the newly launched Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol V2, or CCTP V2, improves upon the earlier version “with a new set of smart contracts and APIs.”