Quickstart: Set up and transfer USDC on EVM chains

USDC provides the ability to transfer digital dollars over public blockchains using smart contracts. The smart contract allows you to send, receive, and store digital dollars onchain with a wallet.

This guide demonstrates how to use the viem framework to build a simple app that enables a user to connect their wallet and interact with the blockchain by sending a USDC transaction from their wallet address.

Prerequisites

Before you start building the sample app to perform a USDC transfer, ensure you meet the following prerequisites:

1. Node.js and npm are installed. You can download and install Node.js directly, or use a version manager like nvm. The npm binary comes with Node.js.

2. MetaMask is installed. You can download and install MetaMask from their website. When performing initial setup, you should create a wallet for the Ethereum Sepolia testnet.

3. You have testnet native tokens and testnet USDC in your wallet. You can get Sepolia ETH (native token) from a public faucet and you can get Sepolia USDC from the Circle Faucet.

Project setup

To begin building the sample app, first set up your project environment and install dependencies. Create a new project directory and initialize a project in it:

Shell

mkdir usdc-transfer-app
cd usdc-transfer-app
npm init -y

In your project directory, install the required dependencies:

Shell

npm install react@^18.2.0 \
react-dom@^18.2.0 \
@types/react@^18.0.27 \
@types/react-dom@^18.0.10 \
@vitejs/plugin-react@^3.1.0 \
typescript@^5.0.3 \
vite@^4.4.5

This sets up your development environment with the necessary libraries and tools for building a React app with TypeScript and Vite.

Finally, install viem:

Shell

npm install viem

Building the transfer app

The following sections outline the relevant business logic of the example app. You can view the full source for the app in the final section of this guide.

Set up public client

The public client interacts with the blockchain network. In this example, you should specify the Ethereum Sepolia network.

Typescript

import { http, createPublicClient } from "viem";
import { sepolia } from "viem/chains";

const publicClient = createPublicClient({
  chain: sepolia,
  transport: http(),
});

Set up wallet client

The wallet client interacts with Ethereum accounts to retrieve balances, execute transactions, and sign messages.

Typescript

import { createWalletClient } from "viem";
import { sepolia } from "viem/chains";

const walletClient = createWalletClient({
  chain: sepolia,
  transport: custom(window.ethereum!),
});

Define USDC contract details

Define the USDC contract address and the application binary interface (ABI). The ABI specifies the functions available on the smart contract. Note that the USDC token contract address varies by blockchain. This example uses the Ethereum Sepolia contract address. See USDC Contract Addresses for a full list of addresses for the USDC smart contract.

Typescript

const USDC_CONTRACT_ADDRESS = "0x1c7D4B196Cb0C7B01d743Fbc6116a902379C7238";
const USDC_ABI = [
  {
    constant: false,
    inputs: [
      { name: "_to", type: "address" },
      { name: "_value", type: "uint256" },
    ],
    name: "transfer",
    outputs: [{ name: "", type: "bool" }],
    type: "function",
  },
];

Connect wallet

Create a function to connect to the user’s wallet in MetaMask and retrieve the wallet address.

Typescript

const connect = async () => {
  const [address] = await walletClient.requestAddresses();
  setAccount(address);
};

Send transaction

Create a function to send the USDC transfer transaction. This function encodes the transfer function data and sends the transaction to the blockchain using the wallet client.

Typescript

const data = encodeFunctionData({
  abi: USDC_ABI,
  functionName: "transfer",
  args: [to, valueInWei],
});

const hash = await walletClient.sendTransaction({
  account,
  to: USDC_CONTRACT_ADDRESS,
  data,
});

Wait for transaction receipt

Use the public client to wait for the transaction receipt, which confirms that the transaction was included in a block.

Typescript

useEffect(() => {
  (async () => {
    if (hash) {
      const receipt = await publicClient.waitForTransactionReceipt({ hash });
      setReceipt(receipt);
    }
  })();
}, [hash]);

Full source

Now that you understand the core steps for programmatically performing a USDC transaction, create an index.tsx and index.html file in your project directory and populate them with the sample code below. This app enables you to send USDC tokens from one wallet to another. The source wallet must contain native testnet tokens (to pay for gas fees) and testnet USDC.

index.tsx

Typescript

import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom/client';
import {
  http,
  type Address,
  type Hash,
  type TransactionReceipt,
  createPublicClient,
  createWalletClient,
  custom,
  stringify,
  encodeFunctionData,
} from 'viem';
import { sepolia } from 'viem/chains';
import 'viem/window';

const publicClient = createPublicClient({
  chain: sepolia,
  transport: http()
});

const walletClient = createWalletClient({
  chain: sepolia,
  transport: custom(window.ethereum!)
});

const USDC_CONTRACT_ADDRESS = '0x1c7D4B196Cb0C7B01d743Fbc6116a902379C7238';
const USDC_ABI = [
  {
    constant: false,
    inputs: [
      { name: '_to', type: 'address' },
      { name: '_value', type: 'uint256' },
    ],
    name: 'transfer',
    outputs: [{ name: '', type: 'bool' }],
    type: 'function',
  },
];

function Example() {
  const [account, setAccount] = useState<Address>();
  const [hash, setHash] = useState<Hash>();
  const [receipt, setReceipt] = useState<TransactionReceipt>();

  const addressInput = React.createRef<HTMLInputElement>();
  const valueInput = React.createRef<HTMLInputElement>();

  const connect = async () => {
    const [address] = await walletClient.requestAddresses();
    setAccount(address);
  };

  const sendTransaction = async () => {
    if (!account) return;
    const to = addressInput.current!.value as Address;
    const value = valueInput.current!.value as `${number}`;
    const valueInWei = BigInt(value) * BigInt(10 ** 6); // Assuming USDC has 6 decimals

    const data = encodeFunctionData({
      abi: USDC_ABI,
      functionName: 'transfer',
      args: [to, valueInWei],
    });

    const hash = await walletClient.sendTransaction({
      account,
      to: USDC_CONTRACT_ADDRESS,
      data,
    });
    setHash(hash);
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    (async () => {
      if (hash) {
        const receipt = await publicClient.waitForTransactionReceipt({ hash });
        setReceipt(receipt);
      }
    })();
  }, [hash]);

  if (account) {
    return (
      <>
        <div>Connected: {account}</div>
        <input ref={addressInput} placeholder="address" />
        <input ref={valueInput} placeholder="value (USDC)" />
        <button onClick={sendTransaction}>Send</button>
        {receipt && (
          <div>
            Receipt: <pre><code>{stringify(receipt, null, 2)}</code></pre>
          </div>
        )}
      </>
    );
  }
  return <button onClick={connect}>Connect Wallet</button>;
}

ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root') as HTMLElement).render(
<Example />
);

index.html

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>USDC Transfer Sample App</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>USDC Transfer Sample App</h1>
    <div id="root"></div>
    <script type="module" src="/index.tsx"></script>
  </body>
</html>

These two source files provide a complete demonstration app that you can use to perform a USDC transfer from a MetaMask wallet. When you open the app, you can connect your wallet, input the recipient address, and click Send to execute the transaction on Ethereum Sepolia. The app provides a transaction receipt once the transaction is included in a block.

Screenshots

Wallet connect screen:

Transfer screen: