Updated
Updated · Forbes · Jul 27
Stablecoins Hit Record $1.79 Trillion June Volume as Market Cap Slips $10 Billion
Updated
Updated · Forbes · Jul 27

Stablecoins Hit Record $1.79 Trillion June Volume as Market Cap Slips $10 Billion

2 articles · Updated · Forbes · Jul 27

Summary

  • $1.79 trillion in adjusted June transaction volume marked a stablecoin record, even as total market capitalization fell about $10 billion from its May peak to roughly $300 billion.
  • The divergence reflects a yield shift: the GENIUS Act bars yield on payment stablecoins, pushing idle balances into tokenized Treasury funds that have grown to nearly $16 billion while coins are held mainly for active payments.
  • June's supply drop was about $7.7 billion—the biggest monthly decline since Terra's 2022 collapse—but the overall pullback was only around 3%, with USDT slipping to about $184 billion and USDC to roughly $74 billion.
  • Higher turnover is offsetting lower supply: Standard Chartered estimated stablecoin velocity at about six times a month, and Visa said first-half 2026 adjusted volume reached $8.82 trillion, putting the year on pace for roughly $17.6 trillion.
  • That shift is also reshaping competition and economics, with USDC carrying about 70% of first-half adjusted volume despite smaller supply, while transaction-driven networks and processors stand to gain more than issuers reliant on reserve income.

Insights

If USDC processes vastly more volume than USDT despite a smaller supply, is market capitalization now a useless metric for digital assets?
Since the 2025 GENIUS Act banned yield, could the massive shift to tokenized Treasuries secretly trigger a new shadow banking crisis?
With supply shrinking but volume exploding, are we witnessing the end of crypto savings or the birth of a new global payment rail?