Stablecoin Statistics 2026: Market Cap, Reserves, and Regulation

DefiLlama reads total stablecoin market capitalization at $315.304 billion as of June 22, 2026, with USDT dominance at 59.05%. The market contracted by 2.21% over the trailing 30 days, a modest pullback from the spring peak. Tether’s Q1 2026 attestation prepared by BDO reports direct and indirect exposure to US Treasury bills of approximately $141 billion as of March 31, 2026, against total token-related liabilities of approximately $183 billion. Those numbers reset the frame: the largest issuer is now a Treasury holder large enough that the BIS measures its yield footprint.

Visa Onchain Analytics puts over $272 billion in global circulating stablecoin supply, with more than 99% US dollar-denominated and 97% minted by two issuers. The dashboard tracks $10.2 trillion in adjusted global transaction volume over the last 12 months against $33 trillion in overall stablecoin volume, a gap that drives every adoption claim downstream. The figures below cover headline market cap, the Tether (USDT) versus USD Coin (USDC) split, Treasury exposure, transaction volume, the GENIUS Act regulatory frame, and the Federal Reserve’s own projections for stablecoin uptake by the end of the decade.

Key Takeaways

• DefiLlama reports a total stablecoin market cap of $315.304 billion with USDT dominance at 59.05% as of June 22, 2026, down 2.21% on a trailing 30-day basis.
• Tether’s Q1 2026 BDO attestation puts direct and indirect US Treasury exposure at approximately $141 billion against total token-related liabilities of about $183 billion, a Treasury-to-liability share near 77%.
• Tether and Circle together mint 97% of all USD-denominated stablecoin supply, with Tether driving 67% of the share and Circle 27%, according to Visa Onchain Analytics.
• Stablecoin combined assets under management exceeded $270 billion as of December 2025 and purchased nearly $35 billion in US Treasury bills during 2025, according to BIS Working Paper 1270.
• Federal Reserve staff project stablecoin uptake reaching between $1 trillion and $3 trillion by the end of the decade, a range that compares to under $7 trillion in T-bills outstanding.
• Chainalysis projects adjusted stablecoin volume could reach $719 trillion by 2035 through organic growth alone, growing at a 133% compound annual rate since 2023.
• Circle and Tether collectively earned more than $7 billion in interest revenue from reserves in 2024, according to Visa’s estimate.

Editor’s Choice

• Total stablecoin market cap reached $315.304 billion as of June 22, 2026, with USDT dominance at 59.05%.
• Adjusted global stablecoin transaction volume reached $10.2 trillion over the trailing 12 months on the Visa Onchain Analytics dashboard.
• Raw global stablecoin transaction volume reached $33 trillion over the trailing 12 months, with much of the difference attributed to liquidity provisioning, bots, and MEV traffic.
• Tether reported approximately $1.04 billion in net profit for Q1 2026 and excess reserves of $8.23 billion.
• Tether holds approximately $20 billion in physical gold and approximately $7 billion in Bitcoin as of March 31, 2026.
• Stablecoins processed $28 trillion in real economic volume in 2025, per the Chainalysis adjusted volume series.
• The GENIUS Act was signed into law on July 18, establishing the first US federal regulatory system for stablecoins with 100% reserve backing required.

Stablecoin Market Capitalization

Source: DefiLlama Stablecoins dashboard (live), Visa Onchain Analytics (12-month window), BIS Working Paper 1270 (May 2026)

By the numbers: DefiLlama’s total stablecoin market cap of $315.304 billion runs with USDT at 59.05% dominance, while Visa’s parallel measure puts global circulating supply at over $272 billion with two issuers minting 97% of the float, a level of concentration that has held across the post-GENIUS Act period.

CoinLaw has tracked the stablecoin float through three regulatory cycles; the recent move follows the DeFi volume pattern, where rapid expansion gives way to a slower compounding base. Much of the float still sits on Ethereum and Tron, the two chains that dominate USDT and USDC issuance.

Stablecoin Transaction Volume (Visa Onchain Analytics)

Source: Visa Onchain Analytics Dashboard (rolling 12-month window); Chainalysis “The New Rails” report, April 2026

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Recent Developments

• May 2026: Tether published its Q1 2026 attestation prepared by BDO, reporting $1.04 billion in net profit, $8.23 billion in excess reserves, and approximately $141 billion in direct and indirect US Treasury exposure as of March 31, 2026.
• May 2026: BIS Working Paper 1270 published, finding stablecoin combined assets under management exceeded $270 billion as of December 2025, and that the sector purchased nearly $35 billion in US Treasury bills during 2025.
• April 2026: Chainalysis published projections for adjusted stablecoin volume reaching $719 trillion by 2035 through organic growth alone, alongside $28 trillion in real economic volume during 2025.
• April 2026: Visa Economic Empowerment Institute published its assessment of stablecoin velocity, noting US M1 velocity stood at 1.65 in Q4 2025 versus stablecoin velocity that is multiples higher on the public-blockchain measure.
• March 2026: Federal Reserve staff published “Payment Stablecoins and Cross-Border Payments,” outlining the eligible reserve-asset categories for authorized payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act framework.
• November 2025: A Federal Reserve speech projected stablecoin uptake reaching between $1 trillion and $3 trillion by the end of the decade, a range that compares to under $7 trillion in T-bills outstanding.

USDT vs USDC Issuer Share

The split confuses readers; mint share measures who issues, dominance includes every peg. Both are correct measures of different things.

Key finding: Visa’s data shows more than 99% of stablecoin supply is US dollar-denominated, and 97% is minted by Tether and Circle combined. The Paxos partnerships with PayPal and the Global Dollar Network are the most-cited examples of issuers building share inside the remaining non-Tether-non-Circle band.

Tether Reserve Composition and Profit

Source: Tether International, BDO attestation for the first quarter, published May

Worth noting: Tether’s approximately $141 billion in direct and indirect US Treasury exposure against approximately $183 billion in token-related liabilities represents the bulk of the company’s backing, with the rest in gold, Bitcoin, repurchase agreements, secured loans, and bank deposits per the BDO methodology.

Circle USDC Reserve Composition and Attestation

Source: Circle Internet Financial, Transparency and Stability page (live); Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Bulletin (August 2025)

Bank deposits backing USDC are held mostly among a handful of the world’s largest banks with the highest capital, liquidity, and supervisory requirements. The cadence predates the GENIUS Act mandate; the regulatory floor catches up to Circle’s voluntary practice rather than the other way around.

Stablecoin US Treasury Holdings

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Bulletin (August 8, 2025); Tether Q1 2026 BDO attestation; Circle Transparency page

Why it matters: The BIS measured a two-standard-deviation $3.5 billion stablecoin inflow lowering three-month US Treasury bill yields by 0.71 basis points on impact and about 4 basis points within 10 days, with the trough at roughly 5 basis points at day 13, an effect that Governor Miran’s November 2025 speech says will scale with the size of the sector relative to the under $7 trillion in T-bills outstanding.

GENIUS Act and the US Regulatory Frame

The act’s anti-evasion framework, alongside the FATF guidelines on the international side, makes the US a credible host. The seize-freeze-burn requirement separates a payment stablecoin from a censorship-resistant token.

Federal Reserve Stablecoin Projections

Source: Federal Reserve speech by Governor Miran (November 7, 2025); Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Bulletin (August 8, 2025); Chainalysis “The New Rails” report (April 8, 2026)

Stablecoin Velocity and Cross-Border Use

• US M1 velocity in Q4 2025 stood at 1.65, meaning each dollar circulated about 1.65 times through the economy.
• Stablecoin velocity is measured by dividing total transaction volume by outstanding supply on public blockchains.
• Stablecoins settle in seconds, operate 24/7, and move across borders without correspondent banking friction.
• A March 2026 payment-stablecoin paper from Federal Reserve researchers examines how payment stablecoins can address frictions in cross-border payments.

The use case overlaps directly with the cross-border payments corridor data that now sits inside the regulatory framing on both sides of the Atlantic.

Stablecoin Issuer Revenue

• Circle and Tether collectively earned more than $7 billion in interest revenue from their reserves in 2024, per Visa’s estimate.
• Tether reported approximately $1.04 billion in net profit during Q1 2026, driven by Treasury bill yield.
• Tether held approximately $141 billion in direct and indirect US Treasury exposure as of March 31, 2026, the primary driver of reserve income.

The issuer economics are the second-order story. Every dollar minted is matched by Treasury or cash, and the yield accrues to the issuer, since the act prohibits direct interest payments to holders.

Stablecoin Impact on Banks

• US banks hold around $26 trillion in total assets, with 20% in Treasuries (about $5 trillion).
• Treasuries make up a higher share of stablecoin-issuer assets at about half of the disclosed mix.
• Stablecoins can reduce, recycle, or restructure bank deposits rather than simply draining them, per the Federal Reserve’s December 2025 note.
• Foreign demand for USD stablecoins may actually increase deposits in US banks if issuers hold their reserves domestically.
• Transaction accounts at banks may be more vulnerable to stablecoin substitution than savings accounts due to stablecoins’ primary utility as payment instruments.

The takeaway: A shift of funds from US bank deposits into stablecoin balances would necessarily increase Treasury demand, because the 20% Treasury share of US bank assets sits below the share that issuers report, while also reducing the supply of bank-led loans against around $26 trillion in US banking system assets.

Is USDC safer than USDT?

USDC and USDT operate under different reserve-disclosure regimes that influence the safety question. Circle states USDC is backed 100% by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets, with weekly reserve disclosures and monthly Big Four assurance reports. Tether’s reserve report is published quarterly by BDO and shows direct and indirect US Treasury exposure of approximately $141 billion against approximately $183 billion in token-related liabilities, with additional holdings of approximately $20 billion in physical gold and approximately $7 billion in Bitcoin. Disclosure cadence, asset mix, and regulatory home each differ. The safety comparison hinges on which axis a reader weights most.

What is the total stablecoin market cap?

The DefiLlama live dashboard puts total stablecoin market capitalization at $315.304 billion as of June 22, 2026, with USDT dominance at 59.05%. The BIS reported combined assets under management exceeding $270 billion as of December 2025, and Visa Onchain Analytics reports over $272 billion in global circulating supply across the 10 major blockchains it tracks. The headline range across primary sources sits in the mid-range, depending on the measurement date and the tokens included.

How much US Treasury debt do stablecoin issuers hold?

BIS data shows stablecoin issuers purchased nearly $35 billion in US Treasury bills during 2025, similar to the largest US government money market funds. Tether’s Q1 2026 attestation lists approximately $141 billion in direct and indirect US Treasury exposure as of March 31, 2026, and a Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City estimate suggests a sector-wide T-bill share of approximately $125 billion if all issuers held Treasuries at Circle’s January 2025 ratio, less than 2% of the $6 trillion outstanding.

Conclusion

The stablecoin float entered mid-2026 as a $315.304 billion market on DefiLlama’s live dashboard, with combined assets under management exceeding $270 billion as of December 2025 per the BIS. Tether’s Q1 2026 attestation reports approximately $141 billion in direct and indirect US Treasury exposure, while the Federal Reserve staff projection range for sector-wide stablecoin uptake by the end of the decade is $1 trillion to $3 trillion.

The float has plateaued in the mid-range, while the BIS, the Federal Reserve, and Chainalysis all project orders-of-magnitude growth from here. The market sits between a regulatory milestone that just landed and a growth path primary sources call too large to ignore.