The stablecoin market shows that growth is often more important than the bottom line.
on paper, Tether (USDT) It maintains its dominance, accounting for more than 55% of the $320 billion stablecoin market. This gives a real boost to Layer 1 networks because so much USDT is stored on the chain. In other words, having a large stash of USDT on-chain gives these networks a subtle “technical advantage” when it comes to capital flows.
However, a closer look reveals that Tron (TRX) And Ethereum (ETH) they alone account for 90% of the $183 billion USDT market, putting them in a prime position to lead key growth areas like AI, NFTs, and RWA. Against This ground, A. recordent report stress of the circle US Dollar overtaking USDT inside “corrected volume” naturally stirred things above.
For context, adjusted volume tracks transfers that resemble the movement of real money, such as payments or funds moving between exchanges. High volume naturally demonstrations HE people And institutions like that actively using stablecoins Open-chain for Every day transactions, in its place not including to give permission them to sit idle inside wallets.
From this perspective, USDC currently accounts for 64% of the volume between the two stablecoins. According to the chart above, USDC has moved approximately $2.2 trillion in adjusted trading volume this year, surpassing USDT’s $1.3 trillion. In fact, this is the first time since 2019 that USDC has surpassed USDT, highlighting a shift where the stablecoin is driving real on-chain activity.
Against this background, it is no surprise that prediction markets are bullish on USDC. According to actually Polimarket, Markets are pricing $200 billion for USDT and $100 billion for USDC by the end of the year.
Technically this means only +8% growth for USDT versus +23% for USDC. This is a strong sign of confidence that USDC will continue to gain traction in real-world use.
The increase in USDC printing in Solana sparked the SOL and ETH debate
Changes in stablecoin flows directly impact on-chain liquidity in Layer 1 networks.
In this context, the high transaction volume of USDC raises questions about how this will affect L1s, especially after Circle minted $2 billion of extra USDC. Solana (Sun) just this week. This caught the attention of analysts at AMBCrypto.
Moreover, this development is particularly striking because Solana’s transaction volume almost 30 times larger Ethereum (ETH). Combined with the fact that USDC is seeing stronger on-chain usage than its main rival, USDT, SOL may have a “structural advantage” that could translate into real technical outperformance.
The timing in particular couldn’t have been better.
So far in 2026, the SOL/ETH ratio has remained around the opening price of 0.04, up just 0.26%. This flexibility in a risk-off market is important, especially when you consider that the rate finishes 2025 with a 26% correction; This is the largest pullback since the 2022 bear market. In this environment, Solana’s transaction superiority over Ethereum begins to gain weight.
From a technical perspective, about 54% Solana’s on-chain liquidity is in USDCWith supply increasing by 2.26% this week alone. Since then US Dollar to have dominant process volume For this reason far This year, This it could be translate into stronger technical performance for LEFT, potentially positioning the network with perform better Ethereum inside the incoming months. Especially both stablecoin streams And network use to continue with goodness BT.
Final Summary
- USDC leads in adjusted trading volume for the first time since 2019, now accounting for 64% of total stablecoin flows.
- With 54% of its on-chain liquidity in USDC and transactions nearly 30x that of Ethereum, Solana can leverage this stablecoin dominance to achieve technically superior performance.
