Stablecoin transactions rose to record US$33 trillion, led by USDC
Stablecoins are a kind of cryptocurrency engineered to mimic the price of a mainstream asset, most often the US dollar
[SINGAPORE] Stablecoin transactions reached unprecedented heights last year, buoyed by favourable policy in the US under pro-crypto US President Donald Trump.
Total stablecoin transaction volumes soared 72 per cent to US$33 trillion in 2025, according to data compiled by Artemis Analytics. Leading the way was USDC, a digital dollar developed by Circle Internet Group, which accounted for US$18.3 trillion worth of transactions, while Tether Holdings’ USDT recorded US$13.3 trillion.
Stablecoins are a kind of cryptocurrency engineered to mimic the price of a mainstream asset, most often the US dollar. Trump’s administration has embraced them, pushing through dedicated legislation under the Genius Act in July. That in turn led to a broader adoption of the technology among institutions, with heavyweights including Standard Chartered, Walmart and Amazon exploring launches.
World Liberty Financial, one of the Trump family’s crypto ventures, launched a stablecoin called USD1 in March.
While total flows rose in 2025, the share of volumes on decentralised crypto platforms fell, suggesting wider mainstream usage and “signalling mass adoption of digital US dollars, especially in an increasingly unstable geopolitical landscape”, said Anthony Yim, co-founder of Artemis.
Citizens of countries dogged by inflation and instability prefer to hold US dollars, and stablecoins are the simplest way to do that, Yim added.
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Tether’s USDT is the world’s largest stablecoin by market value, with a circulation of US$187 billion, according to CoinGecko data. That dwarfs Circle’s USDC, whose market value stands at US$75 billion.
Yet the Artemis data suggest USDC is dominating transaction flows.
USDC is the preferred stablecoin on decentralised finance or “DeFi” platforms, which carry out lending or trading activities using automated blockchain software. DeFi traders frequently move in and out of positions, meaning the same dollar of USDC is reused many times, Yim said.
By contrast, Tether is more often used for everyday payments, business transactions, or simply holding value, so people tend to keep it in their wallets rather than moving it around.
The Genius Act set clear legal standards for stablecoins, and people are choosing USDC “because it offers the deepest liquidity and the highest levels of regulatory trust in the world”, said Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy and operations at Circle.
Tether did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The stablecoin firm owns a less than 1 per cent stake in Artemis.
While the US and other countries have embraced stablecoins, some remain wary. The International Monetary Fund in October said the stablecoin market could threaten traditional lending, hamper monetary policy and trigger a run on historically safe assets.
Even so, stablecoin growth is accelerating. Transaction volumes in the fourth quarter of 2025 came to a record US$11 trillion, compared with US$8.8 trillion in the third quarter, according to the Artemis data.
Total stablecoin payment flows could touch US$56 trillion by 2030, according to analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence. BLOOMBERG
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