Bitcoin’s volatility spawns new crypto alternative

Corporate treasurers fed up with rock-bottom returns on their cash are about to get another pitch from the world of crypto.

Circle Internet Financial Ltd., one of the digital-asset firms behind the so-called stablecoin dubbed USDC that is pegged 1-to-1 to the dollar, has cooked up an alternative for the legions too conservative to follow the likes of Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey into Bitcoin. Park your extra cash in USDC and earn as much as 7% annually through high-yield accounts, the marketing says — more than 10 times the return on an ultra-safe 1-year Treasury bill.

The idea may be appealing to some treasurers who were initially seduced by the big gains in crypto, especially following Bitcoin’s roughly 40% decline since mid-April.