Stablecoins reached a transaction volume of over $2.8 trillion in October, driven by whales accumulating Ethereum. The data represents a 45% monthly growth from the previous all-time high of $1.94 trillion set in September.
The current Ethereum stablecoin market capitalization stands at above $165 billion, up more than 1.36% in the last 7 days. Tether’s USDT led with the most Ethereum in circulation at 85.88 billion ETH, an 8.12% surge in the last month. Circle’s USDC currently has more than 48.2 billion Ethereum in circulation, up 5.79% in the last month.
Tether leads in monthly Ethereum stablecoin volume
On-chain data also shows that stablecoin transfer volume on Ethereum has increased by 1,000% since May 2023. Stablecoins account for approximately 60% of the market, with a circulation of over $308 billion. USDT leads with a stablecoin market cap of more than $183.6 billion, followed by USDC with roughly $75 billion, representing approximately 41% of the stablecoin market.
On-chain data revealed that stablecoins have achieved an annual transaction volume of over $27 trillion, accounting for approximately 1% of daily global payment flows. If growth sustains, stablecoin settlement volumes may surpass those of the traditional finance (TradFi) network by the next decade, based on on-chain data.
Stablecoin adoption has been driven in part by growing demand for cross-border transfers, real-time settlement, and access to payment systems outside of conventional banking hours. So far, stablecoins have been applied in remittances, decentralized finance, trading and capital markets, corporate treasury operations, and consumer payments across multiple platforms.
Gate research indicates that most issuers prioritize infrastructure competition over token dominance. Stablecoin providers are no longer dependent on broadening issuance, but rather on developing foundational networks for settlement and utility. Some examples include Tethers’ plasma offerings, which have developed retail and institutional payments, and Circles Arc, which was recently introduced to offer stablecoin infrastructure.
Ethereum stablecoin volume rose last month as the crypto market rebounded from the October 11 market crash. At the time of publication, Ethereum is currently trading at around $3,713, down more than 3.7% in the last 24 hours. ETH has also dropped about 17.11% in the past 30 days, down from its all-time high of around $4,813.
Bitcoin is down more than 4.1% in the last 24 hours and is trading at $105,773. BTC has also dropped nearly 8% in the last 7 days and more than 13.2% in the past month.
Stablecoin issuers dominate the share of crypto revenue
Kronos Research CIO Vincent Liu argued that the increasing volume of stablecoins is a sign that traders are actively managing liquidity to prepare for buying price dips amid ongoing profit-taking in major digital assets. Liu reasoned that traders were using stablecoins as a hedge and yield-generating tool as they stage capital to rotate between different virtual assets.
On-chain data shows that stablecoin issuers dominate the share of crypto revenue, accounting for roughly 60% to 70% of total daily revenue across major crypto categories, including blockchain infrastructure, lending platforms, decentralized exchanges, and collateralized debt positions. Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, announced previously that the firm is on track to generate $15 billion in profit by year-end.
Stablecoin issuers, such as Tether, base their earnings on the assets that back their stablecoins, while holding user deposits in low-risk instruments like U.S. Treasuries. Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, argued that last month’s stablecoin volume signals a maturing crypto market, where stablecoin activity has grown for non-speculative use cases like payments and cross-border transactions.
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