According to recent data, Tether’s (USDT) stablecoin is catching up with USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, in terms of transactions on the prominent payment platform, BitPay, in 2025.
In 2024, Circle’s USDC dominated the stablecoin transactions on BitPay, holding an 85% transaction share in contrast to Tether’s USDT at 13%. However, by May 2025, the tables have turned in favor of Tether, with USDC’s share plunging to 56%, while USDT’s share escalated to 43%.
The shift in transaction dynamics occurred despite the positive anticipation around Circle’s public launch in June and the regulatory upper hand that USDC has over USDT in the European Union under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
Tether’s USDT has not only narrowed the gap with its main competitor in terms of transaction count but also led in payment volume on BitPay.
BitPay reported a surge in USDT transactions since March 2025, with it capturing over 70% of the stablecoin volume processed by the platform. The shift can be attributed to the growth in overall stablecoin transactions and a preference for USDT over USDC among existing merchants and customers.
Despite the surge in USDT transactions, Circle’s USDC remains the most popular stablecoin on BitPay by transaction count, though it has experienced a significant drop in 2025.
The rising dominance of Tether in transaction count and payment volumes on BitPay, compared to USDC, provides an interesting perspective considering the different approaches to regulation by Tether and Circle.
While Circle received regulatory approval under Europe’s MiCA in July 2024, Tether has refused to comply with some aspects of the MiCA regulation in Europe. Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, confirmed that they have no plans to run an IPO, unlike Circle.
Despite losing ground to USDT on BitPay in 2025, USDC has continued to see impressive growth in its market capitalization in the past year, with an 88% surge from around $33 billion to $61.7 billion. In contrast, USDT increased its market value by 40% during the same period, from $112.5 billion to $158.3 billion.
