Stablecoin Statistics: Supply and Market Share

Stablecoin statistics for October 2026 put circulating supply at $300.02 billion on 26 Oct, according to DefiLlama's stablecoin tracker. These crypto tokens are designed to hold a value of one US dollar, with reserves that the issuer promises to redeem at par. USDT and USDC together represent 84.6% of the total.

Over the previous 30 days, supply fell 0.96% as stablecoin rules became firmer. The US GENIUS Act and its first final regulation take effect on 18 Jan 2027, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the national bank regulator. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) licensed its first two issuers in April.

How big is the stablecoin market

Almost all of the roughly $300 billion stablecoin market tracks the US dollar.

On 26 Oct 2026, market capitalisation stood at $300.02 billion, down 0.76% over seven days, according to DefiLlama's stablecoin rankings. This measure multiplies the number of circulating tokens by their price. USDT accounted for 60.75% of the market, while the eight largest dollar stablecoins held a combined 93.3%.

Issuers of fiat-backed tokens such as USDT and USDC hold cash and government debt they can sell to repay holders. DAI and USDS are created against crypto deposited as collateral. USDe instead pairs crypto holdings with perpetual futures so that price movements in one offset the other. These futures contracts track an asset's price and never expire.

The largest euro stablecoin, Circle's EURC, had €481.7 million in circulation on 26 Oct 2026, worth about $538.6M. That is about 0.18% of all stablecoins, based on the same DefiLlama data.

USDT and USDC share of stablecoin supply

With two companies issuing 84.6% of all stablecoins, most of the market's risk rests on their reserves, profits and licences.

At 30 Jun 2026, Tether had about $184.6 billion of USDT issued, according to its second-quarter attestation release. That was $446 million more than three months earlier, despite a contraction in the wider market. An attestation is an accountant's check of reserves on a single date.

Interest on Treasury holdings drove much of Tether's $1.5 billion net operating profit for the quarter. The company also said its reserves had weathered volatility in gold and bitcoin.

Its financial figures and reserves report records a $4.11 billion surplus of assets over liabilities at 30 Jun 2026, compared with $6.34 billion at 31 Dec 2025. The six-month financial result was negative $3.17 billion.

The report describes Tether International as an authorised stablecoin issuer under El Salvador's Digital Asset Issuance Law, with tokens issued on 13 blockchains.

In August, KPMG issued a clean opinion on Tether International's full 2025 financial statements. This was the company's first complete audit, The Block reported. Tether also launched USAT for American customers on 27 Jan 2026. Anchorage Digital Bank issues the separate token, according to CoinDesk.

USDC circulation reached $73.3 billion at 30 Jun 2026, up 19% from a year earlier, according to Circle's second-quarter 10-Q, its quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. By 26 Oct 2026, supply had eased to $71.69 billion, a 5.00% decline over 30 days, on DefiLlama's USDC page.

Partners that hold USDC for their users are central to Circle's business. Of about $1.4 billion in revenue earned during the first half of 2026, roughly $819 million went to distribution partners and transaction costs, according to Circle's breakdown of USDC economics. Coinbase, its largest partner, held an average of $20 billion in USDC across its products during the second quarter.

Stablecoin supply by blockchain

Ethereum and Tron hold 79.2% of stablecoin supply, despite stablecoins running on dozens of blockchains. The fees and users of those two networks therefore determine where most stablecoin activity takes place.

DefiLlama's breakdown by chain put Ethereum's stablecoin supply at $143.15 billion on 26 Oct 2026, compared with $94.50 billion on Tron.

Our blockchain data dashboard provides five years of history for the stablecoin float on each major blockchain, meaning the value of stablecoins circulating there.

Each network has its own USDT token. A holder can therefore receive only the versions supported by their wallet. Our guide to the best USDT wallets compares network coverage and how wallets charge fees.

Hyperliquid held $6.91 billion of stablecoins, of which 97.8% was USDC. The perpetual futures exchange runs on its own blockchain and earns a share of the interest on users' USDC holdings, as our Hyperliquid statistics show.

Blockchains built for payments are also growing, though from a small base. Circle's Arc held $962.88M of stablecoins on 26 Oct 2026, a weekly increase of 43.55%. Plasma held $1.34 billion and Tempo $706.28M, according to DefiLlama's chain data.

Stablecoin transaction volume and payments

Trading and automated transfers account for most stablecoin activity. Tokens change hands far more often than their supply might suggest, but raw transaction volume overstates everyday use.

In the second quarter of 2026, USDC alone recorded $14.8 trillion of onchain transaction volume, up 151% from a year earlier, according to Circle's 10-Q. Onchain means recorded on a public blockchain. Circle's October note on USDC economics puts USDC's share of global stablecoin transaction volume at roughly 77% in June 2026.

Visa's onchain analytics changelog explains how its adjusted measure filters activity. It excludes transfers by exchanges and by smart contracts, which are programs that run on a blockchain. Bots and bridges, which move tokens between blockchains, are excluded too, as are tokens being created or destroyed.

A data refresh on 18 Sep 2026 expanded the set of identified addresses from about 15 million to roughly 600 million. Adjusted volume fell as a result, while the adjusted transaction count declined by less than 2%.

Figures produced before that refresh cannot be compared with newer adjusted figures. Using the earlier method, Visa's dashboard recorded a record $1.79 trillion in adjusted volume for June 2026, CoinDesk reported.

Visa said on 8 Sep 2026 that its stablecoin settlement volume had exceeded a $20 billion annualised run rate. This projects recent activity over a full year and represented growth of more than 15 times from a year earlier. Its network supports more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programmes, whose payment volume rose nearly 200% year on year.

That settlement run rate was $7 billion on 29 Apr 2026, when Visa expanded its pilot to nine blockchains. Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo joined the pilot, which allows card issuers and acquirers, the banks serving merchants, to settle with Visa in stablecoins.

Borrowing and lending provide another use for stablecoins through DeFi, or decentralised finance. These apps run on blockchains without a company in the middle. Since 2020, more than $694 billion in stablecoin loans have passed through DeFi lending protocols, according to Visa's 8 Sep 2026 release. Our tracker of DeFi yields across major protocols shows the rates those loans pay.

Stablecoin reserves and Treasury bill holdings

Growth in fiat-backed stablecoins adds demand for Treasury bills because their reserves hold large portfolios of short-term US government debt.

Treasury bills mature within a year and are the main reserve asset for both large issuers. According to Tether's reserves report, they made up 61.2% of its reserves at 30 Jun 2026, with a weighted average maturity below 90 days.

Reverse repurchase agreements are short loans secured by Treasuries. Gold, bitcoin and listed shares accounted for 15.1% of Tether's reserves. Another 7.2% consisted of secured loans, meaning cash lent against collateral. More than a fifth of USDT's backing can therefore move sharply in price or depends on borrowers repaying.

About 84% of USDC's simpler reserve portfolio sat in the Circle Reserve Fund at 30 Jun 2026, according to Circle's 10-Q. Circle's note on USDC economics describes it as a government money market fund managed by BlackRock and held in custody at BNY.

The GENIUS Act requires permitted issuers to back every token one for one and publish their reserve composition monthly. Eligible assets include cash, bank deposits and Treasury bills maturing in 93 days or less, alongside repurchase agreements backed by Treasuries.

An April 2025 Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee presentation cited Standard Chartered's projection that stablecoin supply could reach about $2 trillion by 2028. That would be roughly 6.7 times today's supply.

The Bank for International Settlements, a forum for central banks, examined the potential strains that widespread stablecoin adoption could place on banks and financial markets in its June 2026 Annual Economic Report. It argued that stablecoins fall short of the properties it expects of money.

Stablecoin regulation by jurisdiction

During 2026, stablecoin rules progressed from proposals to licences. These requirements will determine which tokens exchanges and banks can offer in each market.

The GENIUS Act, signed into US law on 18 Jul 2025, establishes a federal licence for stablecoin issuers and prohibits licensed issuers from paying holders interest or yield. Announced on 21 Oct 2026, the OCC's final rule sets requirements for issuers under its supervision. It takes effect on 18 Jan 2027.

For issuers under its own supervision, the Federal Reserve proposed two companion rules on 24 Sep 2026. They cover reserves and capital, as well as applications from banks seeking to issue stablecoins.

Whether exchanges and wallets can reward users for stablecoin balances was meant to be resolved by the CLARITY Act. Our guide to the CLARITY Act explains the market structure bill. On 15 Sep 2026, a procedural vote to begin Senate debate failed 49 to 50, below the required 60 votes, according to the Senate roll call.

Under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA, a stablecoin pegged to a single currency is an e-money token. Only a bank or licensed e-money institution may issue one. Our ranking of MiCA-licensed exchanges in Europe compares platforms on the register maintained by ESMA, the EU's securities markets regulator.

On 8 Oct 2026, ESMA told licensed crypto firms to stop providing services related to stablecoins that do not comply with MiCA to clients in the EU. Under ESMA's guidance, national regulators should have any remaining exposure removed within three months of that opinion.

Anchorpoint Financial and HSBC received the HKMA's first two stablecoin issuer licences on 10 Apr 2026. The HKMA said the first round had attracted 36 applications and that further licences would remain very limited.

Australia's initial focus is on platforms. From 8 Apr 2027, when the Digital Assets Framework Act commences, exchanges and custody platforms holding crypto for customers will need an Australian financial services licence. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) set out the requirement on 15 Oct 2026. The deadline for comments on its Consultation Paper 392 is 27 Nov 2026.

A separate payments reform covers stablecoin issuers. Treasury's March 2026 draft legislation would classify payment stablecoins as tokenised stored value facilities, placing providers above A$200 million under APRA, the prudential regulator, according to a summary by law firm Gilbert + Tobin. Our ranking of crypto exchanges in Australia compares local platforms by regulation, fees and security.

The risks of holding and using stablecoins

Maintaining a stablecoin's value depends on functioning reserves, redemptions and code. A failure in any of them can cost a holder part or all of their money.

• Reserve risk: A fiat-backed token represents a claim on a private company's assets. At 30 Jun 2026, Tether's $4.11 billion surplus equalled about 2.2% of its liabilities. BDO, its auditor, noted in the reserves report that valuations assume normal trading conditions. They would not reflect a key custodian or counterparty becoming illiquid.
• Depeg risk: A stablecoin depegs when it trades away from its target price and remains there. Blockchain risk firm Webacy identified 36 stablecoins that collapsed with measurable losses between 2022 and mid-2026, including six in 2026. Those failures destroyed $2.5 billion, according to its review of stablecoin failures. Tokens whose backing was never real accounted for 72% of the losses.
• Redemption limits: Each token is valued net of a 0.1% redemption fee in Tether's reserves report. Circle says its customers can redeem USDC free through bank transfers that settle within two business days. Without an issuer account, holders must instead sell to other traders on an exchange.
• Synthetic and yield-bearing tokens: Ethena's USDe earns from hedging trades. Its return therefore depends on funding rates across exchanges, the regular payments between buyers and sellers of perpetual futures. Those rates can turn negative. Our profile of Ethena founder Guy Young explains the design.
• Illicit use: According to Chainalysis's 2026 Crypto Crime Report, stablecoins represented 84% of illicit crypto transaction volume in 2025. Illicit activity remained below 1% of all attributed volume.
• Regulatory risk: The GENIUS Act restricts US issuance of payment stablecoins to approved issuers from 18 Jan 2027. This may change which tokens US users can access and which platforms list them.