Interpretation of “The Status of Stablecoins in 2025”: USDC Market Cap Increases by 100%, USDe Becomes a Dark Horse

#USDC #USDe #Stablecoin

Recently, the comprehensive report “The Status of Stablecoins in 2025” was released, sparking heated discussions from various sectors. The report covers a wide range of insights, market trends, and in-depth asset analysis. However, there are two particularly noteworthy points:

USDC’s Stable Growth: The market cap of USDC increased by 100%, maintaining steady growth.
USDe Emerges as the Biggest Dark Horse of 2024: Surpassing DAI, USDe has become the world’s third-largest stablecoin.

Let’s dive into the key content of “The Status of Stablecoins in 2025” for a detailed interpretation.

The situation of stablecoin fundamental drivers

The fundamentals of stablecoins have shown impressive growth. As of mid-March 2025, the global circulation of stablecoins has exceeded $230 billion, with on-chain transaction volume reaching $5.6 trillion (as of 2024). To put this figure into perspective, it accounts for 35% of Visa’s total payment transaction volume for the entire year of 2024.

According to DefiLlama data, the current total market cap stands at $230.45 billion, reflecting an increase of $2.3 billion over the past seven days. Compared to the same period last year, the market cap of stablecoins has grown by 56%.

In the overall market capitalization, Tether’s USDT continues to dominate, with a market cap of nearly $144 billion, accounting for 62.6% of the total. Following closely is Circle’s USDC, with a market cap of $59 billion.

Ecosystem Expansion

Stablecoins have been widely integrated into real-world payment scenarios, primarily focusing on remittances and merchant payments in emerging markets. At the same time, global payment giants such as Visa, Stripe, and BlackRock have accelerated the adoption of stablecoins in their operations.

Adoption and Usage

As of January 2025, the number of unique addresses using stablecoin transactions has exceeded 32 million, marking a rapid development trend for the second consecutive year. Compared to 2022, the number of unique addresses has increased by over 200%.

Regional Data

In Africa, represented by Nigeria, 85% of crypto transfers are valued at less than $1 million, indicating widespread usage among retail users and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In emerging markets, represented by Brazil, the proportion of large transfers exceeding $1 million is on the rise, reflecting an increase in adoption by banks and enterprises.

As of today, it is safe to say that stablecoins have not only been integrated into the global payment system but are gradually transforming the global payment landscape. This presents a trillion-dollar opportunity in the financial sector.

USDC and USDT Remain in Dominant Positions

In 2024, USDC experienced rapid global expansion, with its total market cap reaching $59 billion, marking a growth rate of over 100%. This surge is driven by two key factors:

Expansion of the Global Crypto Market: The global crypto market resembles a high-speed train, with USDC positioned at the forefront, naturally benefiting from the overall growth.
Improvement in Global Crypto Regulatory Environment: As compliance becomes more transparent and well-defined, it has cleared obstacles for the development of the USDC ecosystem and the expansion of partnerships.

Regarding USDT, its market cap grew to $144 billion in 2024, maintaining its status as the largest stablecoin by market value. However, its market share has slightly declined, and institutional adoption has decreased, shifting its focus more towards P2P remittance markets to consolidate its position in global payments.

USDe Surpasses DAI to Become the World’s Third-Largest Stablecoin

USDe has emerged as the biggest dark horse of 2024, with its market cap skyrocketing from $146 million to $62 billion, surpassing DAI to become the world’s third-largest stablecoin. Several key factors behind USDe’s explosive growth can be identified from the data:

1. Leading Performance in Yields

According to the latest on-chain data, the Ethena protocol maintains a staking yield of 24.5%, while its core asset sUSDe has achieved an average annualized return of 17.5% since its launch in February 2024. Notably, during the arbitrage window in May 2024, the yield soared to 55.9%, while even during periods of extreme market volatility, it maintained a minimum yield of 4.3%.

2. Record-Breaking TVL Growth

Since the protocol’s mainnet launch in February 2024, it took just 123 days to achieve a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $3 billion, setting a record for the fastest growth among USD-pegged crypto assets. As of now, its TVL has exceeded $5.5 billion, equivalent to $18 million per day in continuous capital inflow.

3. Deep V-Shaped Recovery in Token Valuation

The governance token ENA is currently priced at $0.91, with a Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) of $13.6 billion. Notably, the token peaked at $3.2 on April 2, 2024, following its initial release, but plunged to a historic low of $0.19 on September 6, 2024. Since then, it has staged a robust recovery, achieving a 361% value rebound in just five months.

4. Protocol Revenue Joins Top Tier

Over the past 365 days, the Ethena protocol has generated $198 million in revenue through funding rate capture and staking dividends, securing its position as the 16th highest-earning DeFi protocol, trailing established giants like Uniswap and Lido.

Conclusion

By 2030, stablecoins are expected to occupy a core position in the global financial system, especially in cross-border payments, corporate settlements, and digital asset transactions.

In the words of Tom Base, Head of Product at Base:“Stablecoins have a distinct advantage over traditional financial tools in terms of cross-border capital flow, as they enable people to conduct on-chain transactions using the most familiar currencies, bringing this technology closer to everyday life.”

Interpretation of “The Status of Stablecoins in 2025”: USDC Market Cap Increases by 100%, USDe Becomes a Dark Horse