SS #116 - USDC Widens Lead Over USDT

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Good morning.

Circle just handed Wall Street proof that regulatory compliance beats first-mover advantage: USDC now commands 70% of adjusted stablecoin volume, up from single digits in 2020, as banks like Standard Chartered and BNY skip building their own rails and plug straight into Circle's network instead.

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In Today's Edition:

• Headline: USDC Widens Lead Over USDT

• Quick Bites: Sony Bank Gets OCC Approval

• Yield of the Week: reUSDe/USDe LPs 23.05% APY

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HEADLINE

State of play: USDC's dominance over USDT is accelerating as institutional adoption pushes stablecoin volume to record highs, reversing the market structure that defined crypto's early years.

• Visa's adjusted stablecoin volume hit $1.79 trillion in June, up 63% from May and 125% year over year.

• USDC captured roughly 70% of first half 2026 volume versus USDT's 25%, a reversal from 2020 when Tether held nearly 90%.

• Standard Chartered and BNY both built new services on top of USDC rather than developing proprietary stablecoin infrastructure.

• First half 2026 volume already totals $8.82 trillion, surpassing all of 2024 but trailing 2025's full year record of $10.8 trillion.

• Visa strips out bot activity and exchange transfers before calculating adjusted volume, aiming to isolate genuine economic usage.

What’s Next: Watch whether USDT issuers respond with new bank partnerships of their own, or whether the gap keeps widening as more institutions default to USDC integrations.

Why it Matters: Banks choosing which stablecoin network to plug into is becoming a de facto vote on market structure, and that vote is increasingly going to Circle.

Our Take: USDC's institutional-friendly compliance posture is winning the banks even as USDT still dominates raw exchange liquidity, suggesting the stablecoin market may be bifurcating into a regulated rail for TradFi and a separate liquidity rail for trading.

QUICK BITES

• Former Tether investment chief is looking to sell part of his stake.

• Circle’s USDC is leaving Tether behind in the stablecoin volume race.

• Hyundai Card completes its first stablecoin pilot with Avalanche, Tether.

• EC looks to expand MiCA to cover tokenization, non-EU stablecoin issuers.

• Sony Bank gets conditional OCC approval to issue dollar-backed stablecoin.

YIELD OF THE WEEK

reUSDe/USDe LP: 23.05% APY

• The pool accepts reUSDe deposits and provides liquidity for re.xyz's insurance-backed yield token, maturing December 10, 2026, with ~$4.38M in pool liquidity and also earning 5x Sats and 40x Re points for KYC-verified users.

• Capital is split across reUSDe SY (~$1.26M, 28.86%) and PT reUSDe (~$3.11M, 71.14%), earning a blended yield from underlying yield, PENDLE rewards, and LP fees plus 162.01 daily PENDLE rewards.

• Yield is generated from re.xyz's insurance underwriting activity, with LP APY composed of 19.96% USDe yield, 2.15% PENDLE rewards, and 0.94% LP fees.

PT apyUSD (apxUSD): 16.32% APY

• The market accepts apyUSD deposits and provides fixed-yield exposure to Apyx's yield-bearing stablecoin backed by DAT preferred share dividends, maturing August 27, 2026, while also earning 52x APYX Pips points.

• Capital is deployed into Apyx's vault with no leverage or rehypothecation, where 1 apyUSD converts to 1 apxUSD at maturity via continuous exchange rate appreciation.

• Yield is generated from DAT preferred share dividends streamed on-chain into the vault, with the PT locking in a fixed 16.32% APY while YT holders capture remaining variable yield and points.

PT USD3: 12.03% APY

• The market accepts USD3 deposits, the senior tranche of 3Jane's credit-enhanced lending structure sitting first in the payment waterfall, maturing December 17, 2026.

• Capital is deployed via Pendle Router into the USD3 market, with 1 USD3 converting to 1.16281 USDC at maturity, with redemptions available up to available lending pool liquidity.

• Yield is generated from 3Jane's lending pool interest distributed to the senior tranche, with the PT locking in a fixed 12.03% APY while YT holders capture remaining variable yield and USDC rewards.

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