Stablecoin transaction value hit a record $33 trillion last year

Global stablecoin transaction volumes hit a record high last year.

According to Bloomberg on the 9th (local time), worldwide stablecoin transaction value last year totaled $33 trillion, up 72% from a year earlier. That far surpassed the previous peak.

The most notable shift was a reversal in the transaction-volume rankings. Annual transaction value for USDC, issued by Circle, came to $18.3 trillion, comfortably outpacing Tether’s USDT, which totaled $13.3 trillion.

That result runs counter to the stablecoin market-cap rankings. According to CoinGecko, USDT’s market capitalization stands at $187 billion—about 2.5 times USDC’s ($75 billion).

Anthony Im, co-founder of Artemis, said “USDC is preferred on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms that use automated blockchain software,” adding that “as traders frequently enter and exit positions, the same USDC is used repeatedly, boosting turnover.”

Dante Disparte, Circle’s chief strategy officer (CSO), said, “With clear legal standards established by the GENIUS Act enacted in July last year, investors are choosing USDC, which offers the highest level of regulatory confidence and liquidity.”

A shift in policy stance by the Trump administration is cited as a key backdrop to the market’s rapid growth. After the GENIUS Act—a bill to foster stablecoins—passed in July last year and regulatory uncertainty eased, institutional money began to flow in in earnest.

Global retail giants including Standard Chartered (SC), Walmart and Amazon are also said to be considering issuing stablecoins. World Liberty Financial, a crypto project backed by the Trump family, likewise launched its own stablecoin, “USD1,” in March.

Still, cautionary voices are emerging. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in October last year that “rapid growth in the stablecoin market could threaten the lending structure of traditional finance and weaken the effectiveness of monetary policy.”