Circle’s digital stablecoin, the USD Coin (USDC), has triumphantly surged back, hitting a market cap of $56.3 billion on February 10, as per data from CoinGecko. This impressive recovery erases the damage incurred during the most recent cryptocurrency bear market.
This $56.3 billion milestone signifies a 23.4% increase from the $45.6 billion market cap recorded on January 8. During the height of the bear market, USDC’s market cap had alarmingly plummeted to $24.1 billion in November 2023.
This positive upswing comes as Circle broadens its horizons to include other blockchains such as Sui and Aptos. In January 2025 alone, the company minted a whopping $6 billion-worth of USDC on the Solana blockchain.
Despite USDC’s growth, Tether’s USDt remains the leading stablecoin in terms of market cap, boasting a staggering $141.6 billion worth of tokens in circulation as of February 10. CoinGecko data reveals that USDt’s market cap has leaped by over $4 billion in the past month alone. Figures from DefiLlama indicate that USDt continues to command a 63% share of the stablecoin market, even though USDC has increased its share from 19.4% to 25% over the past year.
David Sacks, the White House AI and cryptocurrency advisor, has opined that stablecoins could “strengthen the dollar’s global supremacy and extend its digital influence online.” He added that it was a key objective of the administration to bring stablecoin innovation “onshore.” Recently, Senator Bill Hagerty proposed a stablecoin bill aimed at creating “a safe and pro-growth regulatory framework that will unleash innovation.”
Stablecoins, digital assets tied to another asset (usually a fiat currency like the US dollar), play an indispensable role in digital payments and act as an inflation hedge in developing countries. Moreover, they allow holders to earn yields on decentralized protocols, akin to earning interest on bank deposits. The total market cap for stablecoins has rocketed from $121 billion in August 2023 to a whopping $224 billion as of February 10.
