USDT, USDC face pressure as stablecoins go multichain

The growth of stablecoins is undeniable, as their reported market cap expanded to new highs in 2025. The additional supply is tracking a multi-chain, multi-token trend, which is challenging the dominance of USDT and USDC. 

Stablecoin profiles are shifting, challenging the dominance of USDT and USDC, while also expanding the reach of chains. 

The multichain trend is driven by USDC, which is aggressively spreading to new L1 and L2 networks. At the same time, USDT still relies mostly on Ethereum and TRON for the bulk of its activity. In the past year, stablecoin activity became truly multichain, though mostly due to the efforts of Circle. 

Stablecoin usage was "dualchain" for many years.

Today, it's arguably "multichain".

Increasingly so. pic.twitter.com/3GxrkfphT8

— Token Terminal @ TOKEN2049 🇸🇬 (@tokenterminal) October 3, 2025

Additionally, there are over 75 smaller stablecoins, which are just starting out with growth. Stablecoins with specific purposes are trying to displace USDT and USDC in their niche, pointing users to a new type of asset. 

One such example is the recently introduced USDH by Hyperliquid, which will not fully displace USDC, but will add new usages to the ecosystem. MetaMask’s mUSD is another attempt to add bonuses for the niche asset. Tether also chose to launch a new stablecoin for USA-based holders, instead of trying to make USDT compliant, as Cryptopolitan reported earlier. 

Stablecoins get boost from Genius Act rules

The drive to create more diverse stablecoins comes from the Genius Act, which regulates the creation of stablecoins in the USA. The main driver of growth is the ability to buy T-Bills as collateral, launching a liquid, fully regulated token. 

The issuer can also earn passive income, choosing to share the interest with the token users. Essentially, stablecoins will become an engine for T-Bill tokenization, as the Genius Act requires that reserves be held in short-term US treasuries, with a duration under 90 days. 

One of the reasons for the rush to have multiple stablecoin issuers is precisely the ability to have reliable yield on T-Bills. Stablecoin issuers also do not pass the yield to holders, though some offer yield through DeFi protocols. 

Genius stablecoins are also essentially selling US debt to the crypto community. Since stablecoins boost the prices of crypto assets, the increased debt is also a factor contributing to crypto growth, serving as a way to offset inflation. 

Stablecoins show different activity levels and use cases

The multi-chain, multi-token world of stablecoins shows some chains have vastly different use cases and activity levels. September was a record month for stablecoin transfers, with a shift in usage and inflows to more chains. 

Some chains hoard the coins and only move a fraction of the supply, while others have a smaller supply that actually circulates each day. As of October 2025, Base is the chain with the most active stablecoin supply. 

On-chain analysts show that despite TRON’s high level of reported transactions, the majority of the supply is actually hoarded and sitting idle. Ethereum is a mixed usage chain, with both idle supply as collateral and active tokens for payments and trading. Up to 53% of the Ethereum stablecoin supply is idle.

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