USDC transfers sent across the Ethereum blockchain can take slightly longer than competing layer 1 networks. This is partly due to the PoW consensus mechanism and partly due to the popularity of the Ethereum blockchain. At times of high usage, the blockchain struggles to handle the capacity of transactions executed. In the not too distant future, Ethereum is transitioning to a PoS consensus mechanism which will be the first step in improving the scalability of the blockchain. However, increases in transaction times will likely not be witnessed until the blockchain implements ‘sharding’, which is scheduled to take place in 2023.