USDC Hits New All-Time High Supply and Overtakes USDT in Transaction Volume for the First Time Since 2019

Circle’s USDC has reached an all-time high supply of $81.1 billion according to Artemis data, and for the first time since 2019 it is processing more transaction volume than Tether’s USDT.

The simultaneous supply milestone and volume flippening mark a structural shift in how regulated institutions, AI systems, and traditional finance partners are choosing to move dollars on-chain, with compliance and transparency increasingly outweighing the liquidity advantages that kept USDT dominant for half a decade.

The Artemis supply chart tells the story of USDC’s growth trajectory with unusual clarity. Supply was effectively negligible through 2019 and 2020, crossed $25 billion during the 2021 bull market, peaked near $55 billion in 2022 before contracting sharply through 2023, and has since recovered and extended to $81.1 billion in early 2026, a level that surpasses every prior high by a significant margin.

The chain distribution visible in the chart shows Ethereum remaining the dominant layer for USDC supply, with Solana representing the largest and fastest-growing secondary layer, followed by Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, and a broadening set of newer chains including Sui, HyperEVM, and Aptos. The multi-chain expansion of USDC supply is a relatively recent phenomenon, with most of the non-Ethereum growth occurring since mid-2024.

The Transaction Volume Flippening

The supply milestone is significant, but the transaction volume data is the more structurally important development. According to report by Coindesk, USDC has recorded approximately $2.2 trillion in adjusted transaction volume year-to-date in 2026, compared to $1.3 trillion for USDT, giving Circle’s stablecoin roughly 64% of adjusted volumes. That share represents a sharp reversal from USDC’s 2019 to 2025 average of approximately 30%, a period during which USDT consistently dominated on-chain movement despite periodic concerns about Tether’s reserve transparency. In February 2026 alone, USDC accounted for roughly 70% of a record $1.8 trillion in total stablecoin transfer volume, processing approximately $1.26 trillion in a single month.

The velocity differential between the two stablecoins is the most telling metric in the dataset. Each dollar of USDC is moving far more frequently than each dollar of USDT, reflecting USDC’s role as an active settlement rail rather than a passive store of dollar value. A stablecoin that turns over rapidly is one being used for actual transactions, payments, and settlements rather than sitting in wallets as a parking mechanism. That behavioral difference between the two assets explains how USDC can lead in transaction volume while still holding a smaller market capitalization than USDT’s $185 billion supply.

What Is Driving the Institutional Shift

Three distinct demand sources have converged to produce this outcome. Regulatory compliance is the foundational driver. USDC’s adherence to the GENIUS Act framework in the United States and MiCA in the European Union has positioned it as the preferred stablecoin for regulated financial institutions that cannot hold assets issued outside a recognized compliance framework. As the MiCA licensing wave has accelerated across Europe, with firms like SwissBorg, Relai, and Blockchain.com securing authorizations in recent months, the institutional preference for a MiCA-compliant dollar stablecoin has translated directly into USDC volume.

The second driver is AI. Circle reported in early 2026 that 98.6% of payments completed by AI agents were settled in USDC, totaling over 140 million transactions. Autonomous systems making payments on behalf of users or executing programmatic commerce appear to be defaulting overwhelmingly to USDC, likely because its API infrastructure, compliance status, and settlement finality characteristics make it the most predictable and legally defensible choice for automated financial activity. That 140 million transaction figure from AI agents alone represents a demand source that did not exist two years ago and is compounding rapidly.

The third driver is traditional finance integration. New settlement arrangements with Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock for treasury operations have embedded USDC into financial infrastructure that processes enormous volumes. When a Visa settlement or a BlackRock treasury operation moves through USDC, the transaction volume contribution is orders of magnitude larger than retail usage.

Wall Street Is Repricing Circle

The commercial momentum has reached equity analysts covering Circle Internet Group, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker CRCL. Bernstein raised its 12-month price target to $190 in the beginning of March, citing dominant USDC activity and potential growth in agentic commerce and prediction markets. Bernstein maintains an Outperform rating with a $190 price target, highlighting the shift of stablecoin usage toward payments and institutional infrastructure. William Blair reiterated its Outperform rating on March 12, noting that Circle’s recent rally reflects growing market appreciation for its economic model and resilience.

The spread between Mizuho’s $120 and Bernstein’s $190 target reflects genuine uncertainty about how to value a company whose revenue model, like Tether’s, is heavily dependent on the yield generated on reserve assets. In a declining interest rate environment, that revenue compresses regardless of how much transaction volume USDC processes. The bull case embedded in Bernstein’s higher target presumably prices in a more durable revenue mix that includes transaction fees from AI agent payments and institutional settlement arrangements that are less sensitive to rate movements than pure reserve yield.

The $81.1 billion supply milestone and the transaction volume leadership together suggest that whatever rate environment Circle navigates, the structural demand for its product has never been stronger.

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