USDC Surpasses USDT in February Transfers as Stablecoin Volume Reaches Record High

USDC processed more than double USDT’s February transfer volume, accounting for roughly 70% of on-chain stablecoin activity as total transfers hit a record $1.8 trillion.

Rich by Coin

2026-03-08

Paragraph 1
Circle’s USDC processed more than double Tether’s transfer volume in February, according to on-chain data from analytics firm Allium, even though its market capitalization is less than half of Tether’s. Total stablecoin transfer volume reached $1.8 trillion for the month, the highest monthly figure on record. The divergence between USDC’s transaction dominance and Tether’s (USDT) market cap lead has drawn attention from analysts who track how capital actually moves through cryptocurrency markets. USDC’s $1.26 trillion in February transfers represented roughly 70% of all stablecoin activity on-chain.

Paragraph 2
Tether’s USDT logged $514 billion over the same period – less than half USDC’s total, despite holding a $184 billion market capitalization against USDC’s $77.4 billion. Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, said on Friday that USDC has “consistently flipped” Tether in transfer volume across the past several months. The pattern suggests that each dollar of USDC is changing hands substantially more frequently than each dollar of USDT – a dynamic driven largely by USDC’s heavier use in decentralized finance protocols, where automated trading and lending recycle the same units repeatedly.

Paragraph 3
Tether, by contrast, is more commonly held as a store of value or used for payments, producing lower velocity per unit of supply. Circle’s minting activity has also accelerated. Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham recorded more than $3 billion in new USDC minted in the first week of March alone, including a single $250 million issuance on Solana on Friday.

Paragraph 4
USDT’s supply remained roughly unchanged over the same period. Circle reported strong fourth-quarter 2025 earnings attributed to growth in USDC’s business and expanding payments operations, according to prior coverage. Florida’s state Senate passed a stablecoin bill this week that now awaits the governor’s signature, adding to a broader pattern of state-level regulatory movement around dollar-pegged tokens in the United States.