Circle’s USDC is leaving Tether behind in the stablecoin volume race, new data from Visa shows

As Wall Street banks adopt digital currencies for faster settlements, overall trading volume spiked 63% in just a single month.

By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Cheyenne Ligon Jul 6, 2026, 4:00 p.m. 1 min readMake preferred on Share this articleMake preferred on

Summary

• Circle’s USDC accounted for about 70 percent of adjusted stablecoin transaction volume in the first half of 2026, widening its lead over Tether’s USDT, which held roughly 25 percent.
• Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $1.79 trillion in June 2026, up 63 percent from May and 125 percent from June 2025, contributing to $8.82 trillion in volume for the first six months of the year.
• Growing adoption of stablecoins by banks and financial institutions, including new USDC services from Standard Chartered and BNY, reflects a broader shift toward established fiat-pegged digital asset networks.

Circle’s USDC stablecoin widened its lead over competitor Tether’s USDT by transaction volume during the first half of 2026, according to fresh data from Visa’s onchain dashboard.

In June alone, stablecoin activity increased to a record $1.79 trillion in adjusted transaction volume, up 63% from May's $1.1 trillion and 125% from about $795 billion in June 2025. Visa removes bot activity, exchange transfers and other blockchain transactions that do not reflect real economic activity before calculating adjusted volume.

These figures come as banks and other financial institutions expand their use of stablecoins for payments, settlement and treasury operations. Standard Chartered and BNY recently added services around Circles’s USDC rather than building their own infrastructure which also reflects a broader shift toward using established stablecoin networks as activity and demand for fiat-pegged digital assets increases.

The first six months of the year totaled $8.82 trillion in adjusted stablecoin transaction volume. That is more than the $5.8 trillion recorded during all of 2024 and $2 trillion less than the record $10.8 trillion reported in 2025.

USDC accounted for about 70% of adjusted transaction volume during the first half of 2026. USDT represented roughly 25%..

In 2020, USDT made up nearly 90% of adjusted transaction volume. USDC accounted for less than 10%. By 2022, USDC accounted for about 45% of adjusted transaction volume.

StablecoinsCircleTetherLatest Crypto News Latest Research

Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months

Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.

By CoinDesk ResearchJul 13, 2026

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.

Why it matters:

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.

View Full ReportMore From Finance

Crypto executives say digital native generations may never need a bank account

Trump targets Brazil's payments system while dollar stablecoins are quietly overtaking country's payments

Tokenization has become a strategic priority for 84% of financial firms