Circle’s USDC stablecoin has achieved a milestone with a market cap of $60 billion, exceeding its prior peak of $55 billion from June 2022.
USD Coin (USDC) has reached unprecedented heights, crossing a market cap of $60 billion and outstripping its leading rival Tether (USDT) in growth over the past quarter. During this period, USDC’s supply has risen by $16.3 billion, while USDT’s supply has only increased by $4.4 billion. However, USDT still retains its position at the top of the stablecoin market cap leaderboard, currently valued at $144 billion.
The significant increase in stablecoin activity on Solana (SOL) has been a major catalyst for this growth, with the total value of stablecoins on the network recently exceeding $10 billion for the first time, greatly driven by Circle’s issuance of USDC. Currently, USDC makes up nearly 80% of Solana’s overall stablecoin market cap, which is over $12 billion.
Recently, stablecoins have seen increased adoption as governments globally are clarifying regulations pertaining to their issuance and use. In 2024, stablecoin transaction volumes surpassed the combined totals of Visa and Mastercard by nearly 8%, as reported in a recent analysis. During this timeframe, the stablecoin supply grew by 59%, surpassing $200 billion and increasing their share of the total U.S. dollar supply to 1%, up from 0.63% at the year’s outset.
Furthermore, a variety of financial and crypto service providers have launched their own stablecoins. Noteworthy examples include PayPal’s PYUSD, backed by U.S. dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries, as well as Ripple’s RLUSD, which also holds U.S. dollar backing.
Most recently, World Liberty Financial Inc. introduced USD1, a stablecoin fully backed by U.S. Treasuries and cash deposits, first launching on Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Smart Chain (BNB). In response to concerns that USD1 could rival USDT and USDC, a prominent figure in the industry remarked that having more stablecoins would contribute positively to the ecosystem. The expansion of stablecoins is beneficial for the cryptocurrency market, as they are a crucial source of liquidity, indicating rising demand from investors for these assets.