Should You Forget Bitcoin and Buy USD Coin (USDC) Instead

• Stablecoins like USDC might be an appealing short-term alternative -- but they could generate lower returns than Bitcoin over the long term.

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During the past 10 years, Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) price skyrocketed 34,260% as it was more broadly adopted by big investors, companies, and even governments. Its limited supply, scheduled halvings (which cut its rewards for mining in half every four years), and the approvals of its first spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs) all made it more comparable to gold and other commodities -- so it was gradually accepted as a long-term hedge against inflation.

But this year, Bitcoin's price only rose 11% as the S&P 500 advanced 16%. It underperformed the market for two reasons. First, Treasury yields stayed stubbornly high even after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rates two more times in 2025. Those high yields likely drew many investors away from speculative investments like cryptocurrencies. Second, more investors took some money off the table as the broader markets hit historically high valuations.

So while Bitcoin's long-term future might still be bright, its near-term gains could be limited. As we wait for that storm to pass, is it smarter to invest in a leading stablecoin like USD Coin (CRYPTO: USDC) instead of Bitcoin? Let's weigh the pros and cons to decide.

The differences between USD Coin and Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency that is mined with powerful computers. Its miners use those computers to solve cryptographic puzzles across its blockchain and receive coins as rewards. That difficulty ramps up every four years with each scheduled halving, and some 19.9 million of its maximum supply of 21 million Bitcoins have already been mined. Bitcoin is valued for its scarcity, but its volatile price swings prevent it from being broadly adopted for mainstream payments. Bitcoin's bulls expect its price to soar even higher during the next decade -- so it would make more sense to hoard it than to spend it.