TL;DR
- USDC transfer volume surpassed USDT in 2025 despite a lower market cap.
- USDC dominates in DeFi and on Solana, where high turnover cycles liquidity.
- Regulation (GENIUS Act, MiCA) has favored USDC’s compliant, transparent model.
Circle’s USDC closed 2025 with $18.3 trillion in transfers versus $13.2 trillion for Tether’s USDT, despite a market cap near $75 billion compared with $187 billion for USDT. Data from Artemis Analytics excludes MEV and intra-exchange shuffles, isolating real on-chain usage such as payments, P2P flows, DEX activity, and collateral moves.
A 39% lead rests on where and how each stablecoin circulates. USDC dominates DeFi venues that recycle dollars through swaps and credit, raising turnover per unit. USDT serves more as a store of value and payment rail, so coins sit longer in wallets, generating lower transfer totals.
Artemis focuses on organic flows instead of raw counts inflated by bots or treasury reshuffles. Results point to economic activity rather than noise, which helps explain the gap between transfer volume and market cap.
Solana plus TRUMP token alter stablecoin flows
Solana supplied the main engine. USDC commands over 70% of stablecoin balances on that network. During Q1 2025, Solana’s aggregate stablecoin supply jumped from $5.2B to $11.7B (+125%), with USDC responsible for most inflows. Liquidity then cycled through DEX routes, perps venues, and lending markets, pushing turnover higher.
An unexpected catalyst amplified demand: the TRUMP memecoin launch in January 2025. The primary Meteora pool paired TRUMP with USDC, so traders first acquired USDC to gain exposure. Activity spilled across Solana’s trading venues and credit platforms. Irony added a footnote when the Trump family introduced USD1 under World Liberty Financial in March, while the memecoin rush kept boosting USDC pairs.
In July, the Genius Act set standards for stablecoin issuers in the United States. USDC already emphasized reserve transparency and compliance, so banks, processors, and fintechs found a clearer path to adoption. In Europe, alignment with MiCA strengthened listings during a period when several platforms reassessed USDT pairs.
All stablecoins combined reached $33T in 2025 (+72% YoY). Q4 printed $11T, up from $8.8T in Q3, with Solana serving as a major venue for retail and institutional flow. Bloomberg Intelligence projects stablecoin payment volume near $56T by 2030, placing tokenized dollars beside legacy networks in commerce, remittances, and wholesale rails.
Trading and treasury takeaways
Market participants now optimize on-ramps, liquidity pools, and collateral baskets around usage, not headline market caps. For execution desks, USDC depth on Solana improves slippage control, spread management, and cash handling across DEX venues. For USDT, strength on Tron continues to support low-cost cross-border payments with broad merchant acceptance.
