From 304 billion to 10.3 trillion: In-depth insights into stablecoin data

Written by: Will A-Wang

Meta just announced plans to integrate third-party stablecoin payments on its platform; Bridge received OCC national trust bank license approval in February; Payoneer has enabled stablecoin features for 2 million businesses; Anchorage launched compliant stablecoin services for non-U.S. banks. Institutions and regulators are accelerating their entry, but what they need is a deeper answer than just the stablecoin issuance volume figure.

Although there are market statistics on the actual payment volume of stablecoins (see “Stablecoin Payment Illusion: $3.5 Trillion in Transactions vs. $390 Billion in Real Payments”), it’s clear that these data points are far from enough for in-depth analysis.

Everyone cites issuance volume data. It appears in every report, earnings call, and policy hearing. But beyond “circulating supply exceeds $300 billion,” how much do we really know about stablecoins? Who holds them? How concentrated are holdings? How fast do they circulate? On which blockchains do they move? What are their true uses—DeFi liquidity, payments, or idle funds?

Dune’s article “Stablecoins are a $300B market. What do we actually know beyond the headline?” offers a methodology for multi-dimensional data analysis, providing precise references for institutional analysis, risk modeling, and answering key questions about stablecoin data.

As of January 2026, the fully diluted issuance of 15 mainstream stablecoins on EVM-compatible chains, Solana, and Tron reached $304 billion, a 49% YoY increase. USDT and USDC account for 89% of the market share, primarily on Ethereum and Tron. In 2025, challenger stablecoins showed differentiated growth, significantly expanding the competitive landscape.

In terms of holder structure, centralized exchanges are the largest holders ($80 billion), with 172 million individual addresses holding stablecoins. But a key warning: outside USDT, USDC, and DAI, the remaining stablecoins are highly concentrated—top 10 wallets hold 90%–99% of the issuance. Issuance figures must be read alongside holder concentration to accurately assess true demand.

On-chain, as of January 2026, stablecoins have a circulation scale of $10.3 trillion, more than doubling from a year earlier. About 90% of this volume can be categorized into clear on-chain activities: the largest use is DEX liquidity deposits/withdrawals ($5.9 trillion), followed by flash loans ($1.3 trillion), CEX fund flows ($599 billion), and others, illustrating the full spectrum of stablecoin on-chain movement.

The daily velocity (transfer volume divided by supply) is perhaps the most underestimated metric in stablecoin analysis. USDC on Base network has a median daily turnover of 14 times, while USDT on Ethereum is only 0.2 times—two assets of the same type, on different chains, worlds apart. Velocity reveals functional positioning: whether stablecoins are active exchange media or idle funds.

Non-USD stablecoins are a long-term signal not to ignore. Although their total issuance is only $1.2 billion, 59 tokens are live across six continents, with infrastructure for euro, Brazilian real, yen, Nigerian naira, and other local fiat-backed stablecoins accelerating. The contours of global localized payment networks are beginning to emerge.

The core value of this analysis isn’t just more comprehensive data but a paradigm shift: moving from “issuance volume statistics” to “behavioral analysis”—tracking each transfer’s trigger, each holder’s type and concentration, transforming on-chain logs into structured intelligence for institutional risk modeling, compliance, and market insights.

1. Stablecoin Issuance

By January 2026, among the top 15 stablecoins on EVM, Solana, and Tron, fully diluted issuance reached $304 billion, up 49% YoY.

Tether’s USDT ($197 billion) and Circle’s USDC ($73 billion) still dominate with 89% market share.

By blockchain:

• Ethereum: $176 billion (58%)

• Tron: $84 billion (28%)

• Solana: $15 billion (5%)

• BNB Chain: $13 billion (4%)

Despite nearly doubling in size, the blockchain distribution remained stable over the past year.

Beyond the top two, 2025 saw challenger growth:

• USDS (Sky Ecosystem / MakerDAO): +376%, to $6.3 billion

• PYUSD (PayPal): +753%, to $2.8 billion

• RLUSD (Ripple): from $5.8 million to $1.1 billion (+1803%)

• USDG expanded 52-fold

• USD1 started from zero, reaching $510 million

Not all challengers grew uniformly: USD0 declined 66%; Ethena’s USDe nearly tripled in October but still rose 23% for the year. The competition layer below USDT and USDC has expanded significantly.

2. Who Holds Stablecoins?

Most datasets only show total issuance. Our data tracks wallet-level balances with address labels, revealing who holds what.

On EVM and Solana:

• Centralized exchanges (CEX) are the largest identifiable holders, with $80 billion, up from $58 billion a year ago. Stablecoins remain foundational for trading and settlement infrastructure.

• Whales hold $39 billion.

• Yield protocols nearly doubled to $9.3 billion, reflecting growth in on-chain yield strategies.

• Issuer addresses (treasuries, mint/burn contracts) surged 4.6x to $10.2 billion, indicating new issuance entering the market.

Data quality note: Only 23% of issuance is in completely unlabeled addresses. For on-chain data, this is a high recognition rate, crucial for understanding true risk distribution.

3. 172 Million Holders, But Highly Concentrated

As of February 2026, 172 million unique addresses hold at least one of these 15 stablecoins:

• USDT: 136 million

• USDC: 36 million

• DAI: 4.7 million

These are broadly distributed: top 10 wallets hold only 23%–26% of issuance, with HHI below 0.03.

Other stablecoins show starkly different patterns:

• Top 10 wallets hold 60%–99% of issuance.

• USDS (circulating $6.9 billion): 90% in 10 wallets (HHI 0.48)

• USDF: 99% in top 10 (HHI 0.54)

• USD0: 99% in top 10, HHI 0.84—indicating dominance by one or two wallets even among major holders.

This doesn’t imply flaws—some are newer, some designed for institutions. But issuance data must be interpreted differently from USDT and USDC.

Concentration impacts de-pegging risk, liquidity depth, and whether issuance reflects real demand or large players’ participation. Only with individual wallet balances can this be accurately assessed.

4. On-Chain Circulation: $10.3 Trillion

As of January 2026, stablecoin circulation on EVM, Solana, and Tron exceeds $10.3 trillion, more than doubling from a year earlier.

Circulation patterns differ greatly from issuance:

• Base: $5.9 trillion (despite only $4.4 billion issued)

• Ethereum: $2.4 trillion

• Tron: $682 billion

• Solana: $544 billion

• BNB Chain: $406 billion

By token:

• USDC dominates with $8.3 trillion, with significantly higher velocity than USDT—approaching 5x, despite issuance being only about 1/2.7 of USDT.

• DAI: $138 billion

• USDS: $92 billion

• USD1: $43 billion

Note: Data is neutral, not filtered by “real economic activity.” Total may include arbitrage, bots, internal routing, or automation. The dataset aims to show objective on-chain activity, allowing users to filter out bots, isolate real usage, or define more relevant circulation metrics.

5. What Are Stablecoins Really Used For?

Granular data here is most valuable. Circulation isn’t just “trading volume” but categorized into different on-chain activities. Knowing “$10 trillion in circulation” is different from understanding “why” it circulates.

January stablecoin usage:

• Market infrastructure (DEX trading and liquidity): $5.9 trillion (largest use)

• DEX swaps: $376 billion

This indicates stablecoins primarily serve as on-chain market-making assets and trading collateral.

Interestingly, trading volume is concentrated in yield farming and active capital optimization rather than simple trading demand.

• Leverage and capital efficiency (lending + flash loans):

  • Flash loans: $1.3 trillion (arbitrage and liquidation cycles)

  • Lending activities (deposit, borrow, repay, withdraw): $137 billion

• Entry/exit channels (CEX and cross-chain bridges):

  • CEX flows: $599 billion

  • Cross-chain bridge deposits/withdrawals: $28 billion

• Issuer operations (minting, burning, peg adjustments): $106 billion (up nearly 5x from last year)

• Yield protocols: $2.7 billion

Overall, about 90% of circulating volume can be categorized into identifiable activities, illustrating the full spectrum of stablecoin movement on-chain.

6. Velocity: Same Token, Different Worlds

Daily velocity (transfer volume / supply) is perhaps the most underestimated metric. It shows whether a stablecoin is actively used as a medium of exchange or just held.

Comparison of USDC and USDT:

• USDC on Layer 2 and Solana: median daily turnover 14 times, driven by high-frequency DeFi activity.

• USDT on BNB and Tron: about 1.4 times/day (active trading/payment channels).

• USDT on Ethereum: only 0.2 times/day, with large amounts of idle funds.

Interest-bearing stablecoins like USDe and USDS have slower velocities, intentionally designed:

• USDe on Ethereum: 0.09 times/day

• USDS: 0.5 times/day

These are meant for yield accumulation, not circulation.

Chain matters more than tokens. The same token can behave very differently across ecosystems:

• PYUSD on Solana: 0.6 times/day

• PYUSD on Ethereum: 0.1 times/day

Velocity links issuance and trading volume, providing a simple yet powerful indicator:

• Is a stablecoin on a chain serving as active infrastructure or just idle funds?

7. Beyond the US Dollar

This analysis focuses on 15 USD stablecoins, but the full dataset covers over 200 stablecoins and 20+ fiat currencies, including:

• Euro (17 tokens, $990 million issued)

• Brazilian real, yen, Nigerian naira, Kenyan shilling, South African rand, Turkish lira, Indonesian rupiah, Singapore dollar, etc.

Non-USD stablecoins total only $1.2 billion issued but include 59 tokens across six continents, nearly 30% of the dataset. Infrastructure for local fiat-backed stablecoins is rapidly building on-chain.

8. Just the Tip of the Iceberg

This analysis is based on a small subset of data—only 15 stablecoins and a few key metrics—while the full dataset covers nearly 200 stablecoins and over 30 chains.

What makes this dataset unique is its classification layer:

• Every transfer is mapped to a chain-triggered activity, categorized into 9 activity types.

• Each balance is split by holder type, using a unified standard across the entire chain.

It transforms chaotic blockchain logs into structured, comparable data, enabling insights into:

• Paradigm shifts

• Cross-platform fund flows

• Concentration risks

• Participation structures

This granularity can answer many questions yet to be asked:

• Which wallets accumulated stablecoins before exchange listings?

• How did holder concentration change in the days before de-pegging?

• How do cross-chain bridge flows of euro stablecoins look?

• How do issuer minting/burning modes interact with market pressures?

This data is designed for institutional analysis, research reports, risk modeling, compliance monitoring, and executive dashboards. The depth is ready for exploration.