TL;DR
- Exploding Supply: Non-USD stablecoins reached $1.1 billion in February, with transfer volume soaring 1,600% to $10 billion as users increasingly rely on them for payments, remittances, and FX operations.
- Rising Adoption: Over 1.2 million addresses now hold these assets, and unique senders jumped from 6,000 to 135,000, showing strong growth in real transactional usage across wallets and exchanges.
- Euro Leads: Euro stablecoins dominate with more than 80% of market cap and 85% of transfer volume, while BRL, SGD, JPY, and several LatAm and global currencies show accelerating but concentrated early-stage growth.
Local currency stablecoins are rapidly evolving from niche experiments into real transactional money, according to new findings from Visa and Dune. The report shows non-USD stablecoins gaining traction as everyday financial tools, with supply, usage, and address activity all accelerating at a pace that signals a structural shift in how digital value moves across borders.
Supply and Transfer Volumes Surge Across Non-USD Stablecoins
The report highlights a sharp rise in non-USD stablecoin supply, which hit $1.1 billion in February, tripling since January 2023. Transfer activity has grown even faster, with aggregated volume jumping from $600 million to $10 billion, a 1,600% increase. Researchers note that, unlike USD stablecoins, which often circulate through DeFi for yield, local currency stablecoins tend to sit in user wallets, centralized exchanges, and institutional treasuries. This pattern reflects their growing role in remittances, cross-border payments, B2B settlement, and FX operations.
User Adoption Expands With More Active Addresses
Adoption metrics reinforce the trend. More than 1.2 million addresses now hold non-USD stablecoins, while unique sending addresses have climbed from roughly 6,000 to 135,000 since early 2023. Nearly half of all supply sits in unidentified wallets, likely a mix of individuals and institutions, and about 25% is held on centralized exchanges. The remaining distribution shows modest but meaningful DeFi penetration, with portions allocated to issuer treasuries, lending protocols, and DEX liquidity pools.
EURC Skews Market Depth but Reveals Usage Patterns
The report notes that Circle’s EURC dominates visible DeFi activity, accounting for over 90% of non-USD stablecoin transfer volume. This concentration can distort perceptions of market structure, but removing EURC reveals clear behavioral patterns: weekend slowdowns, business-cycle rhythms, and settlement-driven flows. These signals point to non-USD stablecoins functioning primarily as transactional rails rather than speculative assets.
Euro Stablecoins Lead Growth as Other Currencies Build Momentum
Euro stablecoins represent over 80% of market cap and 85% of transfer volume, making them the fastest-growing segment. BRL stablecoins account for about 10%, while SGD and JPY stablecoins are smaller but accelerating. Other currencies such as COP, MXN, ZAR, CAD, AUD, and CHF show early but concentrated growth. Despite rapid expansion, euro stablecoins still make up only 0.3% of the global stablecoin market, leaving significant room for future scaling.
