Stablecoins are booming again!
After the 2022 Terra crash, the stablecoin market rebounded big:
• Total market cap hit an all-time high in mid-2025: $250B+
• That’s over 20% growth YTD
• On-chain transfer volume topped $27.6 TRILLION in 2024 — more than Visa & Mastercard combined!
Who’s dominating?
It’s a USDT & USDC world:
• Tether (USDT): $150B+, ~60% market share
• USD Coin (USDC): $60B+, ~25% share
Together they control ~90% of the entire stablecoin supply.
Global adoption trends:
• LATAM: Huge USD hedge — Brazil’s stablecoin tx volume up 207% YoY.
• Asia: Chinese exporters accept USDT for trade settlements.
• Middle East: Dubai saw ~$19B stablecoin volume in 2024 alone.
Stablecoins move real money:
In 2024, stablecoin on-chain volume surpassed Visa & Mastercard combined.
They’re the de facto settlement layer for crypto and increasingly for remittances & B2B payments.
Most stablecoins are:
• Fiat-backed (like USDT, USDC) — fully collateralized with cash & treasuries.
• Some are crypto-backed (like DAI) — decentralized, using on-chain collateral.
• Pure algorithmic stables fell out of favor post-Terra crash.
Multi-chain is the norm:
Stablecoins now live on many blockchains:
• Ethereum & Tron host 84% of stablecoin value.
• Tron USDT alone moves massive volumes for cross-border transfers.
• Layer-2s like Arbitrum/Base are grabbing share too.
Use case #1: Trading
Stablecoins dominate crypto trading pairs:
• Tether is involved in half of all BTC/ETH trades
• On many days, stablecoin trading volume beats Bitcoin’s.
Use case #2: DeFi backbone
45% of liquidity on decentralized exchanges & lending protocols is in stablecoins.
They keep DeFi markets stable and liquid.
Use case #3: Real-world payments & remittances
In some regions, stablecoins = lifeline:
• Argentina, Turkey, Nigeria — people use them to hedge inflation.
• USDT is widely used for remittances in Asia & LATAM.
• Companies like MoneyGram now let you send/receive USDC as cash.
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