• The U.S. government pledged to secure at least 8% of the collateral for the USDC stablecoin.
• Circle, the stablecoin's issuer, keeps around a quarter of USDC's reserve assets at about six banks.
• The bailout benefited Circle, which was working overtime last weekend while USDC depegged from the U.S. dollar.
• Stablecoins may be the bridge between crypto and the real economy, but they should also retain some of the aspects that make crypto crypto, beyond 24-hour access and a different transaction settlement mechanism.
• There have been similar experiments with stablecoins backed with gold.
• USDC showed the world this weekend that the idea of issuing a dollar proxy backed by safe investments and cash stored at banks can be resilient even when a critical component fails.

The article presents a neutral sentiment towards stablecoins and their role in the crypto industry. It highlights the recent government bailout of USDC and the benefits it brought to Circle, the stablecoin's issuer. The article also discusses the potential risks and benefits of stablecoins and their experimentation in the industry.