While most digital assets have suffered during the recent market turmoil, stablecoins have experienced a remarkable surge. Since the mid-March downturn, the combined market capitalization of eight major stablecoins — including USDT, USDC, PAX, TUSD, DAI, GUSD, BUSD, and HUSD — has exceeded $7 billion. Tether's USDT alone now accounts for over $6 billion in liabilities and commands more than 70% of all Bitcoin trades globally.
Soaring Demand for Dollar-Pegged Tokens
On March 30, the total cryptocurrency market cap stood at approximately $182 billion, with stablecoins contributing over $7 billion of that figure. Tether's latest attestation shows total assets of $6,141,809,416, fully backing its outstanding tokens. Besides USDT, both USDC and PAX have become top five BTC trading pairs globally, each capturing over 5% of BTC's daily volume. Combined, they have overtaken the U.S. dollar in terms of BTC trading volume.
According to Messari's 'real volume' metrics, Bitcoin's daily trading volume is about $1.4 billion, closely followed by USDT at $1.1 billion. Notably, USDT's market cap now exceeds that of XRP, making it the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Stablecoin Transfers Hit All-Time Highs; Tron to Launch DAI-Like Token
Coin Metrics highlighted in its latest report that stablecoin transfer value reached an all-time high amid the market chaos. “The dual impact of Bitcoin’s USD value halving and massive issuance of stablecoins led to stablecoins' market cap as a percentage of Bitcoin’s doubling in a matter of days,” the firm wrote. Data from Ethereum-based stablecoins over the past 30 days shows staggering supply growth: USDT +51.5%, USDC +55.4%, PAX +26.5%, BUSD +186.0%, and HUSD +74.7%.
Competition among stablecoin issuers is intensifying. Justin Sun, founder of Tron, announced the launch of a new decentralized stablecoin called USDJ, which will be pegged to the U.S. dollar through collateralized digital assets, similar to MakerDAO's DAI. The stablecoin market now stands above $7 billion and continues to expand, reflecting strong demand for stable value storage amid volatile crypto markets。