# What Does It Mean for USDA to Be "Minted" or "Burned"? Businesses have the option to open a LADT account for the exchange of US dollars and some ASEAN fiat currencies for USDA after completing the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Upon depositing the specified fiat currency to the designated LADT affiliated bank account [**(refer to "LADT’s Custodian Banks" for details)**](/usda-and-mek/usda-minting-guide/about-usda.md#ladts-custodian-banks) as per the email instructions, and following a compliance review, the "mint" operation is executed through the contract. LADT then issues an equivalent amount of USDA to the business. This issuance process, commonly referred to as "minting", results in the creation of new USDA in circulation. Similarly, when a business wants to exchange their USDA for US dollars or ASEAN fiat currencies, the business can deposit USDA into their corresponding LADT custodial account and request to receive fiat currencies for free. This process of redeeming USDA is known as “burning”. The system will execute the redemption and destruction of the authorized amount of USDA through the contract, and the redemption remittance will be executed by the full custody trust bank in cooperation with LADT. This process takes USDA out of circulation. When US dollars are swapped for USDA on a digital asset exchange, the exchange will typically provide the balance of USDA it has on-hand to fulfill the swap. If the exchange needs more USDA to fulfill the swap, the exchange will often use its LADT account to mint more USDA. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.ladt.co/usda-and-mek/usda-minting-guide/how-to-access-usda/what-does-it-mean-for-usda-to-be-minted-or-burned.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.