Stablecoin USDC’s Total Supply Surpass USDT On Ethereum Blockchain

For the first time the total supply of the USDC stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain has surpassed the total supply of Tether (USDT).

According to Etherescan, the current total supply of USDC on Ethereum is worth 40.06 billion, whereas USDT’s total supply on the blockchain stands at 39.81 billion.

USDC’s supply exceeding USDT’s on Ethereum is meaningful because the blockchain remains a major contributor of growth for both stablecoins. USDC and USDT are available on several blockchains, including Solana and Algorand.

What’s Behind USDC Growth?

Increased use in the decentralized finance (DeFi) market, is one of the main reasons for USDC’s recent growth. Stablecoins are used for trading on decentralized exchanges and for various purposes within DeFi protocols.

According to Circle’s spokesperson, also recent significant market moves were a contributing factor for USDC’s growth:

“As digital asset markets trend up or down, both scenarios tend to generate increased demand for USDC — especially during significant market moves.”

The spokesperson explained that when markets move up, increased interest from investors causes an increased demand for USDC as a way to bring fiat currency into crypto trading platforms. On the contrary, when markets go down, more traders are selling volatile assets into stablecoins like USDC.

USDT is different from its competitors “that rely mainly on DeFi platforms to boost their supply,” according to Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino. USDT’s demand is mainly driven by centralized exchange users and institutions, he continued.

However, with the crypto market sentiment recently turning bearish, USDT’s demand from institutions has decreased, said Ardoino. The demand from retail investors, however, is growing from Turkey and several countries in Latin America, he added.

USDT’s total supply ($82 billion) across various blockchain continues to remain significantly higher than that of USDC’s ($45 billion).