The Market Capitalization Of The USDC Stablecoin Exceeds 60 Billion Dollars

The USDC stablecoin from Circle has just reached a record level with a market capitalization exceeding 60 billion dollars. This symbolic milestone is part of a broader trend of growth in the stablecoin market, which now has a total market capitalization exceeding 230 billion dollars.

A spectacular growth for USDC

The USD Coin has officially crossed the threshold of 60 billion dollars in market capitalization this Wednesday, reaching precisely 60.2 billion USD.

This remarkable performance represents a doubling of its value in just one year, as its capitalization was around 30 billion dollars in March 2024.

This dollar-pegged stablecoin, issued by Circle and supported by a consortium including Coinbase, maintains its position as the second-largest stablecoin in the market. Tether’s USDT remains in the lead with a market capitalization exceeding 144 billion dollars.

The supply of USDC is spread across several blockchains, with a dominant presence on Ethereum, which holds over 36 billion dollars. Solana follows with a substantial amount of 10 billion dollars.

Other significant networks also host USDC, including Base (3.8 billion), Hyperliquid (2.2 billion), Arbitrum (1.8 billion), and Berachain (1 billion).

The strategic expansion of Circle and technological advancements

During the first quarter of this year, Circle issued significant amounts of USDC on the Solana blockchain, often in batches of 250 million dollars. As of March 20, the emissions on this blockchain had already exceeded 10 billion dollars, thus demonstrating the growing interest in this platform.

Meanwhile, Circle continues its geographical expansion and enhances its infrastructure. The company recently announced the official launch of USDC in Japan through a partnership with SBI VC Trade, thus opening new opportunities in the Asian market.

Technically, Circle has also unveiled its intention to evolve the USDC bridge on the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, Linea, into a natively issued USDC. This transition marks a first in the industry and is expected to improve transaction efficiency.

Moreover, an enhanced version of its cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP v2) has been deployed on Avalanche, Base, and Ethereum, with extensions planned towards Linea, Arbitrum, and Solana. This upgrade significantly reduces the transfer times of USDC between blockchains, from several minutes to just a few seconds.

This growth comes a few months after Circle received MiCA approval (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) for the issuance of stablecoins in Europe, in July 2024. This green light enhances the legitimacy of USDC and paves the way for broader adoption of stablecoins in the European Union.