TLDR: What is CCTP and How it Works

• Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) on Noble enables users to send their USDC from other chains directly to any Cosmos chain in an easy, simple and secure manner

• Example: User wants to send their USDC on Ethereum to dYdX Chain
  Solution: By leveraging CCTP, USDC can be burned on Ethereum, re-minted on Noble, and forwarded via IBC to dYdX Chain in one transaction. It’s that simple!

Introduction

We are thrilled to announce that USDC on Noble and the imminent launch of CCTP is poised to unlock huge UX and liquidity benefits for the Cosmos ecosystem.

The Cosmos stack, from the Cosmos SDK to CometBFT (formerly Tendermint) and the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, offer a plethora of ways for sovereign application-specific blockchains to enhance their performance and utility. However, a large barrier to success for these blockchains has always been a lack of access to native assets like stablecoins, and easy on-ramping of liquidity into the IBC ecosystem.

Today, we are excited to announce that the final component of the Cosmos USDC migration path - Circle’s implementation of the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) - will launch on Noble's mainnet on November 28th after being available on Noble's testnet as of November 3rd.

CCTP will enable users to easily migrate USDC between blockchains in a single transaction. In fact, users on any CCTP-enabled blockchain (currently Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, and OP Mainnet) will have a way to transfer their assets to Cosmos without relying on custodial bridges.

CCTP on Noble is a major engineering initiative which was first presented in a testnet demo at Cosmoverse in October. Now on the cusp of CCTP mainnet deployment, it reflects an enormous onboarding advantage for the Cosmos ecosystem, and specifically for the dYdX v4 Chain which has officially activated their trading platform. Let’s dig in!

What is Noble?

Noble is a Cosmos application-specific blockchain that is purpose-built for native asset issuance. Noble is the issuance chain for native USDC in the Cosmos and IBC ecosystem with over 16 million USDC currently on-chain. As an infrastructure provider, Noble plugs into over 50 IBC-connected blockchains and enables the seamless transfer of native USDC throughout the IBC ecosystem.

What is CCTP?

CCTP enables USDC to be sent securely between supported blockchains via a native burn and mint process. There is no reliance on custodial bridging. Here’s an example of a simple CCTP transfer flow:

1. User transfers USDC from one chain to another via a third-party app, thereby burning USDC on the source chain (e.g., Ethereum)

2. Circle’s automated service observes and attests to the burn event

3. Either the user or a third party relays the attestation to the destination chain (e.g., Noble)

4. User receives USDC on the destination chain (e.g., Noble)

Interacting with CCTP and dYdX Chain

As the first non-EVM implementation of CCTP, Noble has had the opportunity to build additional functionality on top of the core CCTP protocol, which vastly improves the user experience of onboarding to any IBC-connected blockchain from other ecosystems like Ethereum.

After the mainnet launch of CCTP on Noble, Noble plans to introduce router functionality that can automatically forward USDC minted by CCTP to IBC-connected blockchains. This means users will be able to sign one transaction on any CCTP-enabled chain (e.g., Ethereum) and seamlessly receive their funds on any IBC-connected chain without having to specify the behind-the-scenes routing.

The unique IBC transfer flow, once forwarding is available, is as follows:

1. User transfers USDC from one chain to another via a third-party app, thereby burning USDC on the source chain (e.g., Ethereum) and including a forwarding message (e.g., “forward to dYdX Chain as destination chain”)

2. Circle’s automated service observes and attests to the burn event

3. Either the user or a third party relays the message and attestation to Noble

4. Noble’s router module executes the forwarding message via IBC per the contained metadata

5. User receives minted funds on the destination chain

Noble’s router module is expected to launch later this year. In the meantime, users can use third-party messaging protocols to forward USDC from Noble via IBC after CCTP issuance on Noble.

Stay tuned for CCTP on Noble mainnet on November 28th!