USDC Market Capitalization Soars 80% From 2023

The circulating supply of Circle’s USD-backed stablecoin, USDC, has increased by 80% from its cyclical lows, driven by rising onchain activity, according to data from Blockworks Research.

As of Jan. 2, USDC’s circulating supply is nearing $44 billion, nearly doubling from its 2023 low of under $24 billion, as reported by CoinGecko.

Holdings are now more evenly distributed across blockchain networks, as users explore options beyond Ethereum, according to Dan Smith, Blockworks' data analytics manager, in a Jan. 2 post on X.

This diversification highlights growing onchain activity and the emergence of alternative layer-1 networks such as Solana and Hyperliquid.

Analysts predict this trend will persist, potentially pushing USDC’s market capitalization to double within the year.

As of Jan. 2, around 65% of USDC is on Ethereum, 10% is on Solana, and approximately 15% is distributed across Base, Arbitrum (Ethereum layer-2s), and Hyperliquid, a layer-1 network designed for low-latency trading.

In 2023, Ethereum held 85% of USDC’s supply, a figure that has decreased due to shifting trends.

Grayscale noted in a December research report that this change is partly because “retail traders increasingly enter the crypto market through Solana [as] speculation intensifies around Solana-based memecoins and AI agent tokens.”

Throughout 2024, the total value locked (TVL) on Solana grew significantly, rising from $1.5 billion in January to nearly $8.5 billion by December, according to DefiLlama.

The stablecoin market experienced notable growth following Donald Trump’s presidential election win in the United States. According to Citi, the combined market capitalizations of the top three stablecoins — Tether’s USDT, USDC, and DAI — increased by over $25 billion.

Steno Research predicts USDC’s circulating supply could exceed $100 billion in 2025, contingent on Tether’s regulatory status in the European Union.

“This growth hinges on a critical assumption: that Tether, the largest stablecoin, remains unregulated within the European Union,” Steno stated, adding, “If this scenario unfolds, we expect European residents to increasingly adopt USDC as an alternative to Tether’s USDT.”

Citi emphasized the importance of stablecoins for decentralized finance (DeFi), noting that “stablecoins are the on-ramp to decentralized finance.”

In December, Grayscale identified several DeFi applications to watch in Q1 2025, including Ethena, Jupiter, and Jito, with two of these projects operating on Solana.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/usdc-market-cap-up-80-percent-2023-lows-research

https://x.com/smyyguy/status/1874841046078910631

https://defillama.com/chain/Solana

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/usdc