USDC’s ‘real volume’ flips Tether on Ethereum as total supply hits 55.9B

Published at: June 22, 2022

USD Coin (USDC) is taking a run at the title of the top stablecoin in crypto after its daily ‘real volume’ on the Ethereum network doubled that of Tether’s (USDT) on Tuesday.

According to crypto market data tool Messari, Circle’s USDC posted $1.1 billion in daily real volume on the Ethereum network on Tuesday, which was double USDT’s real volume of $579 million.

Messari’s real volume metric is calculated by compiling data only from exchanges that it believes have “significant and legitimate crypto trading volumes" and thus differs from the more commonly seen “total volume” metric.

Exchanges included in Messari's Real Volume metric include Binance, Bitfinex, Bitflyer, Bitstamp, Bittrex, Coinbase Pro, Gemini, itBit, Kraken, Poloniex and those tracked on OnChainFX.

USDC supply gaining ground

Tether’s circulating supply has continued to fall since its all-time high on May 11, dropping nearly 20% from 83.1 billion coins in circulation to an eight-month low of 67.9 billion as of the time of writing.

USDC, on the other hand, has seen its supply increase by 13% since May 11 to 55.9 billion. If the trends continue, it could spell the end of Tether’s dominance in the stablecoin space.

The collapse of layer-1 blockchain Terra and possible contagion from the fall of crypto lending platform Celsius have caused doubt among investors, made worse by a market crash in recent weeks. Redemptions in Tether have increased significantly in the aftermath, leading to a drop in supply.

Tether has been attempting to shore up confidence in its stablecoin — including stating on June 13 that the ongoing calamities in the crypto market involving Terra and Celsius will not have any impact on its reserves. Despite this, investors appear to be migrating to USDC.

Messari’s real volume metric does not tell the whole story, of course. Across all blockchains and exchanges, CoinGecko shows USDT daily volume still tops the charts at $44 billion compared to USDC’s $5 billion. A spokesperson for Tether told Cointelegraph in a July 1 update that Messari's 'real volume' is not factual as it includes only USDC in USDC/USDT trading pairs.

However, it is not known how much of the volume is due to USDT being employed in wash trading to either inflate the numbers for coins or exchanges, which is why the imperfect real volume metric was developed.

In an effort to combat the ongoing redemptions and doubts about the composition of its reserves, Tether chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino told Euromoney on June 15 that his firm plans on getting a proper audit from a top-12 auditing firm. While he would like to have one of the top four firms perform the audit, Ardoino said, “The big four are a bit more cautious about providing a full suit when the rules are not clear,” around stablecoins.