Two dollars that are not always equal
USDC and USDT both cost a dollar, but they are two different dollars with different issuers and different reserves. In a calm market the USDC/USDT pair sits flush against one, and there is nothing to earn on it.
They come apart on news: trouble at a partner bank, questions about reserves, regulatory pressure. One of the two slips below a dollar, and the gap between venues becomes visible — because exchanges do not react at the same moment.
Where the gap appears
USDC has a trait most coins lack: some exchanges quote it against USDT, some against a fiat dollar directly, and some carry both. The same USDC therefore rests on different bases at different venues, and a gap opens between them.
Fiat on-ramp venues are their own story. USDC there often tracks the real dollar more closely than on purely crypto exchanges, and that is a standing difference rather than a one-off.
Networks: where the money is actually lost
USDC lives on a dozen networks — Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon and others. The coin on each is its own; the ticker is shared. Sending USDC from one network to an address on another is an ordinary way to lose it.
The rule matches USDT's: the withdrawal network and the deposit network must match literally. The exchange displays both — check them rather than trusting memory.
Transfer cost depends on the network entirely: on Ethereum it can be dollars, on Solana or Base cents. For a stablecoin, where all the profit sits in tenths of a percent, the network choice decides the outcome by itself.
How this differs from arbitraging an ordinary coin
Tenths of a percent do the work here, not percent. In exchange the size is larger and the risk of the price moving mid-trade is near zero — a dollar does not fly ten percent while you transfer. So on stablecoins a mistake costs you the fee itself, not forgone upside.
Methodology and principles of analytical processing
Forming and structuring the data
The analytical system brings disparate market information together into a single structure, accounting for the specifics of trading directions and the individual characteristics of each platform. That keeps the presentation consistent and the key parameters comparable.
Criteria for forming the results
Forming the analytical selection takes into account the completeness, availability and reliability of the source information. Parameters that meet the established processing and confirmation criteria are included in the calculations. Insufficiently substantiated values are not used in the final results.
Currency of the analytical information
The information presented is kept current through regular refreshing and reconciliation of the analytical parameters. How often that happens is determined by the nature of each category of data and the way it is processed.
