Overview
- By the end of March, total stablecoin supply reached $315 billion, up about $8 billion quarter over quarter, as these tokens captured 75% of all crypto trading.
- USDC added roughly $2 billion to reach about $78 billion in circulation, while USDT fell by around $3 billion in its first quarterly decline since Q2 2022.
- Institutional buyers are favoring USDC for its disclosures and controls, with EU rules limiting USDT on regulated venues and U.S. policy work boosting compliant issuers.
- Retail-sized transfers dropped 16% in Q1, while bots and other automated systems drove roughly three-quarters of transaction volume.
- Yield-bearing stablecoins grew to about $3.7 billion in value, drawing bank lobbying in Washington against coins that pay returns.