USDC Circulation Grew 78% in 2024: Report

by

USDC issuer Circle has reported that the stablecoin’s circulation increased by 78% in 2024.

Over the past year, USDC has experienced remarkable growth, becoming the fastest-growing cryptocurrency tied to the value of a national currency (fiat) in terms of market capitalization.

Regulatory Compliance

The report states that the USDC supply increased significantly from a minimum of $24.4 billion in early 2024 to $43.9 billion as of January 1, 2025. This substantial growth is noticeably different from 2023, when the stablecoin experienced a decrease of approximately 45% due to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), resulting in its supply falling to $33.2 billion.

A financial organization located in Santa Clara had approximately $3.3 billion invested in Circle’s cash reserves. The institution’s collapse led to a significant market dump, causing the USDC to temporarily deviate from the value of the U.S. dollar.

Moving on to the current scenario, this digital asset now spans over 16 different blockchain networks and has processed fiat currency transactions amounting to over $850 billion. Notably, in November 2024, it surpassed a monthly transaction volume of $1 trillion, thereby increasing its total historical transaction value to over $18 trillion.

Dante Disparte, serving as the Chief Strategy Officer at Circle, attributed the recent advancements of USDC to their active collaboration with regulatory bodies. This was clearly demonstrated when they became the initial stablecoin issuer to obtain a license under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework.

Based in Boston, Circle is among a small number of cryptocurrency companies that fulfilled Canada’s rigorous listing criteria set by the VRCA. These strict guidelines caused some firms such as Kraken, Bitstamp, and Bybit to temporarily suspend their activities within the Canadian market.

Tether Still Dominant

Nevertheless, the organization hasn’t had entirely trouble-free sailing recently. Toward the close of last year, Circle allegedly had to reduce its staff by over 6% due to what they termed as a regular operational evaluation.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed that while USDC has seen growth this past year, it still lags behind USDT, the top stablecoin. By the end of 2024, USDT’s market cap soared to an astonishing $137.5 billion, making up a staggering 66% of the entire stablecoin market, which was valued at close to $208 billion.

To elaborate, since the beginning of 2021, Tether’s value has surged by over 74%, whereas USDC saw a less significant growth of approximately 8.8%. According to CoinGecko, Tether reached a market cap of around $78.3 billion in 2021, compared to USD Coin’s $42 billion at that time, following its rebranding.

Tether has revealed its intention to relocate its operations to El Salvador and establish its initial physical office following their licensing as a digital service provider in the nation. Previously boosting its Bitcoin reserves by an additional $700 million on New Year’s Eve 2024, the firm reported impressive net earnings of $7.7 billion in the first nine months of that year.

Read More

2025-01-18 18:32