# Collateral Perennial is built upon the stablecoin: Digital Standard Unit (DSU). Think of it as *USDC+*. DSU has all the properties of USDC + additional censorship-resistance properties that protect users of DSU & the protocols that build upon it. Properties of DSU: * Fully collateralized * 100%+ backed by USDC (and 1:1 redeemable for USDC) * Trust-minimized USDC DSU is a wrapped version of USDC (deposit 1 USDC, get 1 DSU). DSU is an ERC-20 that can that can then be used in DeFi and redeemed at any time for 1 USDC. When the DSU protocol receives USDC, it deposits it into a DeFi protocol (namely Compound) that is liquid, battle-tested, and safe from a regulatory perspective. The core benefit of this: DSU wrapping minimizes trust assumptions in dollar-backed stablecoins (without impacting UX) and reduces risk associated with upstream protocols, making it an ideal stablecoin primitive to build upon. ### Use in Perennial **Most Perennial users will not have to directly interact with DSU.** When a user uses the Perennial frontend with USDC as collateral, Perennial automatically wraps USDC into DSU and deposits the DSU into the protocol. When a user withdraws their collateral, Perennial will unwrap the DSU and return USDC to their wallet. **If a user is directly interacting with the Perennial smart contracts, they will need to obtain DSU to open Maker/Taker positions.** This can be done by wrapping/unwrapping directly through the DSU smart contracts ([see here](https://github.com/emptysetsquad/emptyset)). Alternatively, for gas efficiency, developers can use the Batcher contract (see [Deployed Contracts](https://docs.perennial.finance/protocol/markets/broken-reference)) to wrap/unwrap. ### More info: Website: [dsu.money](https://www.dsu.money/) Docs: