In short
- The stablecoin provide jumped $100 billion to a complete of $314 billion in 2025.
- Tether leads in transaction exercise, adopted by Ripple's RLUSD and Circle's USDC.
- The Trump-backed USD1 reached the highest 5 simply months after April launch.
This was a defining yr for stablecoins, with the signing of the GENIUS Act, a high-flying IPO for Circle, and a handful of tokens outpacing the remaining.
For the reason that begin of January, the general U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin provide has elevated by greater than $100 billion, to $314 billion whole. However that doesn’t imply all boats have risen on the identical price.
To measure stablecoin efficiency, Decrypt calculated velocity utilizing historic knowledge from crypto worth aggregator CoinGecko from January by way of December 15. Velocity divides whole quantity by common provide, leading to a calculation of what number of occasions every coin has, on common, modified palms.
As former Commodities and Futures Buying and selling Fee Chairman Timothy Massad defined to Decrypt, measuring velocity beats rankings that rely solely on whole provide.
“Stablecoins might be very helpful with out there being a big market cap,” he mentioned. “In different phrases, it's actually the rate, the transaction use, they usually can flow into in a short time even when the quantity excellent shouldn’t be that nice.”
Tether (USDT)
Tether tops the listing with a velocity of 166 as a result of it’s lengthy been a workhorse for international crypto buying and selling. It will possibly’t declare the crown because the first-ever stablecoin—that belongs to BitUSD. But it surely launched the identical yr, in 2014, and have become the primary broadly used one.
Tether boasts a market capitalization of $186 billion after growing 35% for the reason that begin of the yr, in response to CoinGecko knowledge. The majority of Tether tokens get traded on Ethereum (46.3%) and Tron (41.4%), in response to DeFi Llama knowledge.
Tether started the yr by relocating to Bitcoin-friendly El Salvador, the place President Nayib Bukele declared BTC authorized tender in 2021. There have been a couple of bumps, although. In March, Binance mentioned it will delist USDT for European Union customers to remain compliant with MiCA rules, which require stablecoin issuers to be licensed.
However that’s not stopped the corporate from turning a hefty revenue. To this point in 2025, Tether has seen $10 billion in revenue within the first three quarters of the yr, the corporate mentioned in October.
Ripple USD (RLUSD)
Ripple Labs’ stablecoin, RLUSD, swiped the second spot with a velocity of 71. Which means, on common, each RLUSD token has modified palms 71 occasions for the reason that begin of the yr.
In most stablecoin lineups, Circle’s USDC would maintain this spot as a result of its $78 billion market capitalization trumps that of RLUSD’s $1.3 billion. However as Massad identified, stablecoin efficiency has extra to do with having the ability to transfer cash effectively than its whole provide.
Ripple was provisionally permitted for a nationwide banking constitution by the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Foreign money, or OCC, in December. “It is a huge step ahead—first for RLUSD— setting the best normal for stablecoin compliance with each federal (OCC) & state (NYDFS) oversight,” Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote on X.
HUGE information! @Ripple simply obtained conditional approval from the @USOCC to constitution Ripple Nationwide Belief Financial institution. It is a huge step ahead – first for $RLUSD, setting the best normal for stablecoin compliance with each federal (OCC) & state (NYDFS) oversight.
To the…
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) December 12, 2025
Ripple Senior Vice President of Stablecoins Jack McDonald has typically identified that RLUSD was particularly designed for institutional use.
Initially of December, Ripple bought the inexperienced gentle from the Singapore Financial Authority, or MAS, to develop XRP and RLUSD funds in Singapore. And earlier this yr, RLUSD was built-in into Securitize's tokenization platform. Which means it’s one of many property buyers can swap for tokenized cash market funds.
Circle (USDC)
USDC noticed its velocity attain 56 in 2025, whereas its market capitalization climbed 78% to $78.4 billion by December 15.
Maybe greater than any of its opponents, Circle benefitted massively from the passage of the GENIUS Act. Its working mannequin already resembled the federally regulated framework that’s now develop into U.S. legislation. That’s given Circle a head begin on compliance and investor confidence—and buyers took observe.
CRCL was so common with buyers on its debut that the NYSE halted buying and selling 3 times. Since then, Circle has reported $740 million in Q3 income, marking a 66% year-over-year improve. Circle has additionally rolled out the testnet for Arc, its layer-1 blockchain, which counts BlackRock, Visa, and Amazon Internet Companies as early members.
Circle was additionally one among a number of stablecoin issuers—together with Ripple, Paxos and BitGo—which bought a provisional approval for its nationwide banking constitution and shall be seeking to develop into broader monetary companies.
USD1 (USD1)
USD1 is an outlier as a result of it launched in April, and subsequently doesn’t have practically a full yr’s value of knowledge. However that didn’t cease it from touchdown proper subsequent to the rostrum with a velocity of 39.
Issued by World Liberty Monetary—the crypto-focused agency co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and companions—USD1 was designed from the outset to be a extremely liquid transactional stablecoin. The token reached a $1 billion market cap in April, lower than a month after its launch, in response to knowledge from CoinGecko.
There have been some very bullish predictions about its development. Blockstreet’s Kyle Klemmer instructed Decrypt he believes USD1 would be the world’s dominant stablecoin, beating USDT and USDC, earlier than President Donald Trump’s second time period ends in 2029.
The challenge has leaned closely on retail distribution and promotional partnerships, together with integrations with a number of U.S.-based crypto exchanges, like Coinbase and FalconX, and it’s making a bid to develop into “Solana’s go-to stablecoin” by teaming up with meme coin platform Bonk and decentralized alternate Raydium.
PayPal USD (PYUSD)
PayPal USD’s velocity of 18 lands it in fifth place on this listing.
Its 2023 debut made massive waves as a result of it was the primary time a longtime funds platform made a bid at issuing a stablecoin—years earlier than there was a regulatory framework within the U.S..
For many of this yr, development for PYUSD moved at a modest tempo. Its market capitalization peaked above $1 billion in June after which established a foothold in September. Since then, it’s practically tripled to $3.8 billion as of December 15.
PayPal has teamed with LayerZero to develop the token’s presence to 9 new blockchains, together with Tron, Summary, Aptos, and Avalanche. However there’s additionally been some controversy.
In October, observers famous that PYUSD issuer Paxos minted after which instantly burned $300 trillion value of tokens. It’s an impossibly giant variety of tokens, given it represents greater than twice the world’s GDP.
At 3:12 PM EST, Paxos mistakenly minted extra PYUSD as a part of an inner switch. Paxos instantly recognized the error and burned the surplus PYUSD.
This was an inner technical error. There is no such thing as a safety breach. Buyer funds are protected. Now we have addressed the basis…
— Paxos (@Paxos) October 15, 2025
"This was an inner technical error. There is no such thing as a safety breach,” the agency wrote on X. “Buyer funds are protected. Now we have addressed the basis trigger."
USDe (USDe)
Ethena Labs’ USDe demonstrated a velocity of 11 in 2025, with its market capitalization displaying a modest acquire of 11% from $5.8 billion in January to $6.5 billion by December 15.
However that trajectory leaves out the truth that its market cap soared to almost $15 billion earlier than the early October flash crash.
USDe is the one stablecoin on this listing that isn’t backed by fiat foreign money: It’s backed by a delta-neutral technique involving staked Ethereum and perpetual futures hedges. However its reliance on derivatives implies that occasions of excessive volatility and shifts in sentiment could cause massive swings in market capitalization.
Even with a much less easy construction, the token’s advocates embrace billionaire Arthur Hayes. However not all regulators are satisfied. Ethena Labs pulled out of the German market in April over rising scrutiny over its “severe deficiencies” in compliance.
USDS (USDS)
Sky’s USDS confirmed extraordinarily low velocity of 1 in 2025—and that’s by design. To keep away from confusion: Sky is a rebrand of DeFi OG MakerDAO and USDS is a rebrand of its DAI stablecoin.
In contrast to USDT or USDC, which operate as transactional stablecoins, most USDS tokens sit locked in Maker vaults or financial savings contracts as collateral for DeFi loans reasonably than circulating. Its position in DeFi is nearer to a yield-bearing financial savings instrument than digital money, so it naturally turns over far much less typically.
For instance, the Sky Protocol at present affords a 4% rewards price (paid in SKY tokens) to customers who maintain USDS. As of 2025, USDS has seen its market capitalization develop from $5.2 billion firstly of the yr to $9.8 billion, marking an 85% improve in slightly below 12 months.
