USDT and USDC lead $239b stablecoin market as global adoption soars
On May 29, 2025, research on stablecoins conducted by Artemis, Castle Island Ventures, and Dragonfly was released. The data in the study was provided by 20 stablecoin payment-focused companies, along with estimates from 11 firms in adjacent sectors. The report highlights the growing real-world utility of stablecoins.
Stablecoins were one of the most discussed topics at the May Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, even drawing jokes about how frequently they were mentioned. The significance of the topic cannot be overstated, as stablecoins play a critical role in promoting financial independence globally. They are also at the center of the current U.S. Senate debate, where Democrats and Republicans are on the verge of establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins for the first time.
Stablecoins combine the cross-border accessibility of Bitcoin with the stable value of assets such as the U.S. dollar, euro, or gold. This has made them a natural on-ramp into crypto, and a preferred tool for remittances and sending money without relying on traditional banks.
Today, the two most prominent stablecoins, USDT and USDC, have a combined market capitalization of over $214 billion. Tether, the issuer of USDT, ranks among the top ten holders of U.S. Treasury bills. Payment giants Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe are actively integrating stablecoin operations, introducing the technology to their multi-million-user bases. Against this backdrop, the study by Artemis, Castle Island Ventures, and Dragonfly appears especially timely.
Some numbers
According to the Artemis study, the total supply of stablecoins is $239 billion. All the stablecoins are held across 150 million wallet addresses.
The researchers emphasized that stablecoins are increasingly used in everyday economic activity by millions of users. The report estimates that from January 2023 to February 2025, $94.2 billion in non-trading stablecoin payments were settled. Between November 2023 and December 2024, the monthly stablecoin payment volume doubled from about $3 billion to $6 billion.
Leading countries, platforms, and currencies
Survey data revealed that the U.S. and Singapore lead in stablecoin transaction volume, each accounting for 18% of global usage. Hong Kong and Japan follow with shares of nearly 10% and 8%, respectively. The UK (6.8%) and Germany (4.5%) rank fifth and sixth, while other countries each account for less than 3%.
Tron and Ethereum dominate as the top blockchains for stablecoin activity, with a combined market share exceeding 90%. USDT is the most widely used stablecoin, accounting for over 70% of stablecoin-related transactions between 2023 and 2025. USDC trails behind, surpassing 30% market share only once, in March 2024. However, in countries such as India and Argentina, USDC is as widely used as USDT, and it sees strong adoption in the U.S., Mexico, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya.
According to the study, 99% of stablecoins are pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by U.S. dollar-denominated instruments. “If they were considered a nation, stablecoins would be the 14th largest holder of sovereign U.S. debt,” the report states. It also quotes U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who underscored the importance of stablecoins in reinforcing the dollar’s global reserve currency status.
Types of transactions
While peer-to-peer payments were the dominant use case for stablecoins, business-to-business (B2B) transactions overtook them in mid-2024. Since July 2024, the volume of B2B transactions has continued to grow, while P2P volume has gradually declined.
The share of card-based stablecoin transactions also began rising significantly at the end of 2023. In February 2025, B2B payments accounted for $3 billion, P2P transactions reached $1.5 billion, and card payments hit $1.1 billion, matching the level of P2P activity seen in February 2023, when P2P was the leading transaction type.
Notably, P2P activity has remained relatively flat between 2023 and 2025, fluctuating between $1.4 billion and $2.2 billion. Meanwhile, B2B, card payments, and business-to-client and prefunding transactions have been on the rise.
Conclusion
In their conclusion, the researchers note that stablecoins have evolved from a niche payment tool into a “meaningful tool for global payments,” with B2B transactions now leading the way.
