- USDT volumes halved since November 2024 as traders shift to USDC amid Bitcoin’s price volatility.
- Bitcoin’s stalled rally below $90K drives risk-averse traders toward USDC for stable liquidity options.
- EU’s MiCA rules reward USDC compliance, pressuring USDT to adapt reserve disclosures or lose market share.
Circle’s USDC stablecoin reached $219 billion in monthly trading volume by April 2025, doubling its activity since January. The increase coincides with a partnership between Circle and Binance, which expanded USDC’s use cases across the exchange’s global platforms.
🔍 In today’s first Premium edition of our Data Debrief, we cover:
👉USDC's growing market share on centralized exchanges—and what shifting stablecoin use cases mean for regulators
✅Coinbase’s dominance in U.S. markets ahead of its Q1 earnings call
📊Accelerating Bitcoin ETF… pic.twitter.com/ZujC3SLnsV
— Kaiko (@KaikoData) May 5, 2025
At the same time, competing stablecoin USDT saw its exchange volumes drop by roughly half over the same six-month period, according to data from analytics firm Kaiko.
The shift comes as Bitcoin’s price fluctuates below key thresholds of $90,000 and $95,000, levels it has struggled to maintain since late 2024.
Traders appear to favor stablecoins like USDC during periods of uncertainty, using them to hedge against volatility or exit positions without converting to traditional currencies. This behavior contrasts with earlier cycles, where USDT often dominated trading pairs during market dips.
Regulatory developments may also influence stablecoin preferences. The European Union’s MiCA framework, set to take effect in mid-2025, imposes stricter transparency requirements on issuers.
Circle has positioned USDC as compliant with these rules, emphasizing monthly audits and reserve disclosures. Tether, which faced scrutiny in 2023 over its reserve composition, has not yet detailed adjustments to meet MiCA standards.
While USDC’s growth reflects changing trader habits, its reliance on centralized exchanges like Binance introduces dependencies. ETHNews analysts note that USDC’s utility in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols remains limited compared to USDT, which still dominates lending and borrowing markets.
For now, USDC’s rise underscores a broader recalibration in crypto markets—one where regulatory alignment and institutional trust increasingly dictate which stablecoins survive.
