Stablecoins
Circle takes steps to shore up USDC amid plummeting market share
Circle’s USDC stablecoin has expanded to Layer 2 networks Optimism and Base. With 4 more blockchain expansions to come, Circle seeks to increase USDC’s declining market share.
- Circle has launched USDC on Optimism and Base.
- While USDC exceeded USDT in terms of overall transaction volume, the latter enjoyed more daily usage.
Stablecoin issuer Circle announced the launch of its USD Coin (USDC) on leading Layer 2 (L2) networks Optimism [OP] and Base on 5 September.
1/ It’s here. #StableSeptember. The day you’ve all been waiting for – what comes first? How about two launches on the same day?
Introducing $USDC on @optimismFND and USDC on @BuildOnBase
, two leading L2 scaling solutions for Ethereum built on the OP Stack. pic.twitter.com/v3SgJBZ7qG— Circle (@circle) September 5, 2023
The launch of USDC on these networks forms part of Circle’s plan to expand the availability of USDC to more blockchains. Later this month, it plans to make the stablecoin coin native to the Cosmos network via Noble, an app chain purpose-built for native asset issuance on the chain.
TL;DR: $USDC is launching on 6 new blockchains; @coinbase is increasing its support for stablecoins with an investment in Circle; Circle will take full control over USDC issuance and governance; Coinbase and Circle will also maintain a commercial relationship.…
— Circle (@circle) August 21, 2023
USDC suffered a blow to its market share in March following the unexpected collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). On 11 March, Circle confirmed its inability to remove $3.3 billion of the $40 billion USDC reserves locked up at SVB. This immediately caused the stablecoin to lose its $1 peg and traded for as low as $0.96 on 12 March before finally regaining its peg on 16 March.
At $26.04 billion at press time, USDC’s market capitalization has since dipped by 33%, per data from CoinMarketCap.
Source: CoinMarketCap
USDC excels in terms of transaction volume
According to data tracked by on-chain analytics firm IntoTheBlock, despite the steady decline in its market capitalization, USDC outpaces Tether’s USDT in terms of overall transaction volume.
USDC is more actively traded than USDT, with a daily transaction volume of over $5.7 billion compared to USDT’s $4.5 billion.
Data from Dune Analytics lends credence to this position, as USDC has led the overall stablecoin market regarding transfer volume in the last month. With a transfer volume of $445 billion in the last 30 days, 48% of stablecoins moved during that period was USDC. USDT trails behind with a transfer volume share of less than 40%.
Source: Dune Analytics
However, in terms of scale and adoption, USDT notably exceeds USDC. According to data from IntoTheBlock, as of 4 September, the total count of wallet addresses holding USDC was 1.73 million. On the same day, USDT boasted of 4.13 million wallet addresses. This meant that USDT had nearly four times the active user base of USDC.
While USDC leads in terms of overall transaction volume, USDT continues to record higher daily transaction counts. According to the latest data available from IntoTheBlock, on 4 September, 97,000 transactions involving USDT were completed.
On the same day, USDC only saw 34,000 transactions. Trailing downward since 6 March, USDC’s daily transactions count has since plummeted by 61%.
Source: IntoTheBlock
