The global stablecoin market changed dramatically over the past year and is now at the very center of digital finance.
My very recent numbers from January 2024 show that on the books of the organization, a stablecoin is a fully backed digital asset that has a one-to-one peg with the U.S. dollar—what we call a U.S. dollar stablecoin. Between the figures of 2023 and 2024—a period of just three months—the market capitalization of the stablecoin sector increased by 80.7%. It went from stablecoin assets amounting to $130 billion in value to $235 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
This explosive growth is not only reshaping how digital dollars are used but is also redefining the infrastructure supporting decentralized finance (DeFi), payments, and cross-border transactions. With strong momentum in both institutional and retail markets, stablecoins are no longer fringe financial instruments—they’re fast becoming foundational to a new generation of on-chain financial systems.
USDT and USDC Maintain Dominance as Layer-2 Ecosystems Expand
Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) keep dominating the market stablecoins, holding by far the largest pieces of the stablecoin market. Together they make up an astonishing 87% of the total stablecoin market share. This indicates that these two tokens are the most trustworthy and they also accounted for 86% of last stablecoin 15-month market growth.
The clear leader is USDT, whose supply vaulted from $91 billion to $144.6 billion—a $53.6 billion increase that typifies 51% of all new stablecoin issuance in this timeframe. In contrast, USDC saw its supply swell from $23.8 billion to $60.6 billion, adding a $36.8 billion market value swell that represents growth in 35% of this sector’s expansion.
Nevertheless, this surge isn’t confined to the key players alone. The platforms facilitating the distribution and issuance of these stablecoins are swiftly transforming, with Ethereum and Tron still very much in control of the on-chain universe. These two platforms are responsible for a whopping 81.99% of all stablecoin issuance, with Ethereum seeing a growth rate of 86%, which translates to an increase of $58 billion, while Tron added $10 billion at a 34% year-over-year growth rate.
Emerging blockchain ecosystems are also gaining traction. In particular, the ecosystem surrounding Solana has surged, with stablecoin issuance growing by a breathtaking 584.34%, or $12.5 billion. Base, the project backed by Coinbase, is one of the fastest-growing chains, witnessing a remarkable 2316.46% issuance uptick that translates to an additional $4 billion in stablecoins. Other new network contenders, including Hyperliquid, TON, and Berachain, combined to contribute an additional $3.8 billion.
Capital Flows Signal Diverging Use Cases
The story of the use of these stablecoins is a different one that speaks to the new market dynamics of an evolving crypto world. On centralized exchanges, USDT has taken on more and more importance as some kind of cosmic glue holding crypto together. Its role as a liquidity and trading proxy is so vital now that even the slight possibility of a Tether collapse dims the lights on the whole crypto party. Exchange-held USDT jumped from 15.2 billion to 40.9 billion tokens between June and November 2022—a 25.7 billion token increase that now represents 28.4% of the total supply of USDT.
In contrast, USDC is proving useful within the DeFi ecosystem. Its presence on centralized exchanges has risen modestly—from 2.06 billion to 4.98 billion tokens—but a lot of its new issuance is going to decentralized protocols. MakerDAO currently holds 4.8 billion USDC (11.9% of total supply), while AAVE controls 1.32 billion USDC (7.5% of new issuance). That suggests DeFi users seeking yield, collateral, and lending services are gravitating toward USDC.
Data Scale and Growth Trends in On-Chain Distributed Stablecoins
— OKX Ventures (@OKX_Ventures) April 13, 2025
Cross-Border Payments and Real-World Adoption Accelerate
Stablecoins are turning into a major pillar of worldwide adoption. They are used for real-world applications, especially in cross-border payments. About 30% of global remittance payments are now processed via stablecoins. We see the fastest growth in the Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa regions—over 40% year-on-year. Stablecoins are a major part of the payment scene now. They are being used a lot more than some other cryptocurrencies that are more famous or popular, like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Organizations are also joining the battle. Standard Chartered, through one of its subsidiaries, created $4 billion in USDC for over-the-counter trading and on-chain foreign exchange services. In the consumer world, the Latin American payment platform Lemon is facilitating the everyday use of stablecoins by managing over $137 million in USDC for consumer payments.
Outlook: The Future of Stablecoins in a Hybrid Financial World
In the future, the analysts see stablecoin market cap hitting $325 billion to $400 billion by the end of 2025. They cite a number of engines driving this projection, including: a surge of interest from institutions; use cases that range from the everyday to the exceptional; and Layer-2 scaling solutions that promise improved performance.
The appearance of stablecoins that generate yields is also grabbing attention. These instruments afford their holders the opportunity to earn passive income, making them markedly more alluring (if that’s the right word) than just plain stable digital assets that offer only basic transactional utility.
Locally, stablecoins like the Digital Dirham and Peso-pegged tokens are emerging as tools for financial inclusion. Acting as a bridge between the traditional banking system and the unbanked, these digital assets are helping to provide access to basic financial services in jurisdictions where banking is more difficult to obtain.
The ecosystem’s future is being shaped by two main factors: regulatory developments and industry partnerships. Take Stripe, for instance. In 2022, it acquired a company called Bridge. Bridge is a Web3 payments infrastructure company. It’s an example of how infrastructure that serves decentralized finance is coming together with traditional finance. Stripe is laying the groundwork for that convergence. It’s also laying the groundwork for something else: the much-hoped-for mainstream adoption of decentralized finance.
The use cases are many and growing; the infrastructure is maturing; and the participation of institutions, both public and private, is on the rise. In this context, stablecoins are not only becoming more integral to the decentralized architecture of a global, digital financial system—but also are likely to be increasingly dominant within that system.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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