coindesk.com
Miden is planning to introduce a privacy-focused stablecoin backed by Circle Internet’s $USDC at the same time as the zero-knowledge blockchain prepares to debut its mainnet
Issued natively on Miden using Circle’s xReserve infrastructure, USDCx will be backed 1:1 by Circle’s stablecoin held in an xReserve smart contract, the company said in a press release Wednesday.
Users will be able to hold and transfer USDCx without publicly revealing balances, counterparties or transaction histories.
The stablecoin is expected to go live at the same time as the Miden mainnet, targeted for the end of this month.
Miden is a California-based zero-knowledge blockchain built around client-side proving, where transactions are executed and proved on users’ devices rather than exposed to the network. The design is intended to provide applications with privacy by default while allowing users to selectively disclose information when needed.
The product targets one of the biggest limitations of using public blockchains for institutional finance: transparency.
The network aims to provide confidentiality without sacrificing compliance. Its selective-disclosure system allows users to prove balances, provenance or other information to auditors, regulators and counterparties when required.
Privacy has emerged as a key barrier to bringing more financial activity onchain. Public blockchains expose transaction histories, balances and counterparties by default, a level of transparency that is difficult to reconcile with how businesses and financial institutions operate.
Trading firms don’t want to reveal positions, companies can’t publish payroll and treasury activity and individuals may not want their financial lives visible on a block explorer. Privacy infrastructure aims to bring the confidentiality of traditional finance onchain while preserving crypto’s programmability and verifiability.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a steady value, typically by tracking the U.S. dollar. They have become a key piece of crypto infrastructure, providing a bridge between traditional money and blockchains while enabling faster payments, trading and settlement without the volatility of assets like bitcoin BTC$63,408.67 or ether ETH$1,888.48.
Miden sees USDCx as the foundation for a broader category it calls “PriFi,” spanning private institutional trading, B2B payments, payroll, cross-border payments and corporate treasury management.
The company spun out of Polygon as an independent project in April 2025 and is backed by a16z crypto, 1kx, Hack VC and others.
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