USDT now dominates 63% of the stablecoin market cap as traditional payment giants fall behind in transfer volumes.
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Tether USD (USDT) has surpassed $150 billion in circulating supply amid stablecoins averaging over $521 billion in weekly transfer volumes in 2025,
The metrics posted by the leading stablecoin are well above the combined weekly volumes of Visa and PayPal, which averaged $319 billion and $32 billion, respectively.
Tether described the milestone as the culmination of over a decade of development since its 2014 launch, attributing the growth to global demand for USDT from over 400 million users.
USDT now represents 63% of the total stablecoin supply, nearly $238 billion as of May 12.
Artemis data shows the growing dominance of stablecoins in transactional finance. During the week of Jan. 20, stablecoins processed approximately $654.9 billion, exceeding the combined Visa and PayPal volume of $351.2 billion by more than $303.7 billion.
Other weeks with large spreads included Jan. 13 ($282.1 billion), Jan. 6 ($278.9 billion), Jan. 27 ($266.3 billion), and Feb. 3 ($242.5 billion), demonstrating a consistent margin of leadership during the start of the year.
On average, stablecoins moved $521.3 billion in weekly value throughout 2025, surpassing Visa by 63% and outpacing PayPal by over 1,500%.
The momentum is boosted by traditional financial companies recent push into the stablecoin sector due to expectations of a friendlier regulatory environment under President Donald Trump's administration.
This strong performance comes after stablecoins reached $24.6 trillion in transfer volume last year, surpassing Visa and Mastercard combined volumes by 7.7%.
However, the traditional payments landscape giants are quickly adapting to this new reality and contributing to these developments.
Visa announced a platform to help banks tokenize fiat currencies in October 2024, resulting in more stablecoins. Moreover, the payment firm recently launched stablecoin-powered cards in Latin America.
Meanwhile, Mastercard reported to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the tokenization of 30% of its 2024 transactions. Like Visa, Mastercard also announced a card that allows users to make payments with stablecoins.
PayPal launched its stablecoin, the PayPal USD (PYUSD), in August 2023. After surpassing $1 billion in circulating supply in August 2024, PYUSD's market cap slowly slid below $450 million in December of the same year.
However, PYUSD adoption recently picked up, climbing 95% since February to nearly $930 million as of May 12.
