What Are Digital Dollars?
Your Peanut balance is held in digital dollars — real US dollars represented as tokens on the internet. They work like regular dollars (same value, same purchasing power) but they move instantly, across borders, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When you see your balance in the app, that number is dollars. The technology behind it is invisible.
How Digital Dollars Work
A digital dollar is a token called USDC (USD Coin), issued by Circle — a publicly traded US financial company (NYSE: CRCL). Each USDC is backed 1:1 by US dollar reserves held in regulated financial institutions. Circle publishes regular reserve reports verified by independent auditors. As of early 2026, there are over $74 billion USDC in circulation worldwide.
The important part: 1 digital dollar = 1 US dollar. Always. It does not fluctuate like Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Your $100 balance today is still $100 tomorrow.
Why Peanut Uses Digital Dollars
Traditional bank transfers between countries take 1–5 business days, charge fees at every step, and only work during banking hours. Digital dollars solve all three problems:
- Instant movement. A deposit from Europe via SEPA arrives in under 20 minutes. Crypto deposits arrive in minutes. No waiting for business days.
- No borders. Digital dollars move between countries the same way they move within a country — there is no difference between sending $50 across the street or across the Atlantic.
- Always available. Banks close on weekends and holidays. Digital dollars move 24/7/365.
- Lower cost. Because digital dollars move without the chain of intermediary banks that traditional transfers require, the cost is lower. Peanut passes that through — deposits, withdrawals, and payments are all free.
When you pay at a merchant in Argentina or Brazil, your digital dollars convert to the local currency at the moment of payment. The merchant receives pesos or reais. They never see or touch digital dollars — it all happens in the background.
What You See vs. What Happens
| What you see in the app | What happens behind the scenes |
|---|---|
| Balance: $250.00 | 250 USDC held in your own account on the Arbitrum network |
| Deposit $100 from your bank | Your bank sends EUR or USD → converted to USDC → credited to your account |
| Pay $30 at a store in Buenos Aires | 30 USDC converts to Argentine pesos at the market rate → merchant receives pesos via Mercado Pago |
| Withdraw $50 to your bank | 50 USDC converts to your local currency → sent to your bank via SEPA, ACH, or PIX |
You never need to know what USDC is, which network it runs on, or how the conversion works. The app handles everything. Your balance shows dollars because that is what they are.
Are Digital Dollars Safe?
Your digital dollars are held in your own account — not pooled by Peanut, not held in a Peanut company account. Peanut is non-custodial: your money is never in Peanut's hands. Even if Peanut's servers go down, your funds remain accessible because they exist independently on the blockchain.
The dollars themselves are backed by real reserves. Circle (the issuer of USDC) holds the equivalent US dollars in regulated financial institutions and publishes monthly attestation reports. USDC is compliant with US money transmitter laws and the European MiCA regulation.
Depositing and Withdrawing
You can add digital dollars to your Peanut balance in several ways:
- Bank transfer — send EUR (SEPA), USD (ACH or wire), or BRL (PIX). Your money converts to digital dollars automatically.
- Crypto deposit — send USDC, USDT, or DAI from any exchange or wallet. USDT and DAI are automatically converted to USDC at market rate with no conversion fee. Supported networks include Solana, Arbitrum, Base, Tron, Avalanche, Polygon, and Ethereum.
Withdrawals work the same way in reverse: withdraw to your bank in local currency, or send digital dollars to any external wallet on any supported network.
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