have you ever looked at USDC and ETH order books on CEX or DEX? they are handling billions of dollars per day. unless your wallet is holding hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto you can make orders on these platforms without making a dent.

your 1000 USDC transfer may have some minute effect like a single drop of water in the ocean.

in reality you but some ETH to cover the transaction, then spend/burn it in order to fill the trade. maybe later your friend will have to pay more or less or the same than you did in absolute USD terms to cover gas costs to exchange the USDC for another asset depending on the future market conditions. and these are risks both parties should aware of , the ledger is not free but the take-rate and fees are notably different than VISA and PayPal