circle invested in verona years ago. now verona has stopped taking circle's dollar on its own blockchain every transaction on verona has a small fee until now you could pay it in verona:native or in $USDC, circle's digital dollar in september verona launched its own digital dollar, verUSD each verUSD is backed by a real dollar, and it started with over $100M in commitments last week the people who stake verona:native voted to accept verUSD for fees and to drop $USDC 83% said yes. the founder explained it simply. they used USDC for 3 years, but couldn't shape it the way they needed with their own dollar, they set the rules verona checks that something really happened, like a delayed flight or an uber ride, and pays people in verUSD $60M+ in signed deals will be paid in verUSD too, so it makes sense for the chain to run on it there's also money in it the real dollars behind a digital dollar sit in reserves, and those reserves earn interest with USDC, that interest goes to circle verona's plan says the returns on verUSD's reserves can go into its own reserve fund