Ethereum stablecoin market adds $17bn. Here’s what’s driving the growth

Fri, Sep 12, 2025, 12:39 PM 2 min read

Ethereum is outpacing its rivals in the stablecoin market.

In August, Ethereum’s stablecoin supply increased 13% by more than $17 billion, more than all other blockchains combined, according to data from Artemis.

Tron, Ethereum’s main stablecoin rival, lost 1.3% of its supply in August after Binance rerouted a chunk of reserves to Ethereum, shifting on-chain liquidity.

All told, the stablecoin market has ballooned to a record $287 billion, and has more room to grow, according to industry stakeholders like Coinbase and crypto investment firm Keyrock.

Coinbase analysts forecast that stablecoin supply will surpass $1 trillion by 2028.

Analysts at Keyrock and Bitso share that estimate but see the milestone arriving in 2030, when they expect stablecoins to account for 12% of global cross-border payments.

The data from Artemis points to three stablecoins driving Ethereum’s growth in the market: Circle’s USDC, Tether’s USDT, and Ethena’s USDe.

Tether and Circle are the current top stablecoin issuers, but USDT’s market share is almost double USDC’s.

Still, USDC was the biggest winner in August, adding $9.4 billion to its supply, Artemis data shows.

The breakout performance boosted USDC’s position as the dominant DeFi stablecoin and increased its presence in the market sector to 58% from the 55% recorded in July.

In August, USDT leaned on Binance’s Plasma Earn campaign that incentivised users to pour more than $1 billion into Tether’s dollar stablecoin to earn yield.

Ethena’s USDe found solid footing during the same period in the increasingly popular looping DeFi strategy where traders stack yield positions on Pendle against Aave loans and recycle the collateral multiple times to compound their returns.

Outside Ethereum, Solana was the only other blockchain whose stablecoin market grew by more than $1 billion, according to Artemis data.

While Ethereum remains the primary blockchain for stablecoin transactions, competition may lie ahead in the form of purpose-built stablecoin blockchains.

In August, Circle and fintech giant Stripe unveiled plans to create their own stablecoin blockchains.

Market analysts like Ben Reynolds, managing director of stablecoins at BitGo, previously told DL News that these stablecoin blockchains are attempts by issuers to earn transaction fees from the ballooning stablecoin market.

The emergence of these competitors could challenge Ethereum’s dominance.

But not everyone is convinced.

Christian Catalini, co-creator of Meta’s failed Libra stablecoin, said that private stablecoin blockchains like the ones being built by Stripe are “doomed to fail.”

Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.