SS #81 - USDC Flips Tether as Stablecoin Volume Hits $1.8T Record

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Good morning.

Stablecoins just hit a new record, and USDC is stealing the spotlight. USDC quietly outpaced USDT in transfer volume despite being less than half its size by market cap, a sign that real usage is starting to tell a different story than market rankings.

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In Today's Edition:

• Headline: USDC Flips Tether as Stablecoin Volume Hits $1.8T Record

• Quick Bites: Banking Lobby Considers Suing OCC Over Crypto Bank Charters

• Yield of the Week: pmUSD-frxUSD LP's 34.7% APY

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HEADLINE

State of play: Stablecoin monthly transfer volume hit an all-time high of $1.8T in February, with USDC emerging as the surprise leader despite having a significantly smaller market cap than Tether.

• USDC accounted for 70% of total stablecoin volume at $1.26T, more than double USDT's $514B, marking a new milestone since its 2018 launch.

• USDC has "consistently flipped" Tether in transfer volume over recent months, surprising analysts given its market cap of $77.4B vs USDT's $184B.

• Over $3B in USDC was minted in March alone, with its supply growing faster than USDt's in recent weeks.

• The Stablecoin Supply Ratio is recovering after a February crash, signaling returning buying power to the market.

• Stablecoin supply on exchanges rose to a three-week high of $66.5B, with daily inflows jumping from $1.14B on March 1 to $5.14B on March 5.

What’s Next: With Circle now public, market scrutiny on USDC growth metrics will intensify, and continued minting momentum could pressure Tether to defend its dominance through expanded use cases or transparency efforts.

Why it Matters: USDC flipping Tether in transfer volume signals a potential shift in stablecoin dominance, with real-world usage increasingly diverging from market cap rankings.

Our Take: The gap between USDC's market cap and its transaction volume dominance suggests institutional and payments-driven demand is outpacing retail holding.

QUICK BITES

• First US state-level stablecoin bill passes in Florida.

• Sonic Labs taps Frax infrastructure for native network stablecoin.

• US banking lobby considers suing OCC over crypto bank charters.

• Stablecoin fintech KAST raises $80M in Series A to fund global expansion.

• Aon tests stablecoin payments for insurance premiums with Paxos, Coinbase.

• USDC shines in February as stablecoin transfer volume hits $1.8T all-time high.

YIELD OF THE WEEK

pmUSD-frxUSD LP: 34.7% APY

• The vault accepts pmfrxUSD (Curve LP token) deposits and compounds pool incentives through a Curve Boosted strategy. TVL currently stands at ~$1.45M.

• Capital is 100% allocated to the StrategyCurveBoostedFactory-pmfrxUSD, with a secondary Convex strategy inactive at this time.

• Yield is generated from Curve pool incentives and boosted rewards, automatically compounded into the vault with 0% management and performance fees.

Steakhouse AUSD: 14.63% APY

• The vault accepts AUSD deposits and allocates capital across Morpho lending markets to optimize risk-adjusted yield. Total deposits currently stand at ~$1.88M AUSD.

• Capital is primarily deployed into wsrUSD/AUSD (86% LTV, 16.25% APY) and XAUt0/AUSD (77% LTV, 16.56% APY) markets, with utilization near 100% across all active allocations.

• Yield is generated from lending demand and borrowing activity in these collateralized markets, with a 10% performance fee applied to returns.

Reservoir wsrUSD Looping: 15.22% APY

• The vault provides leveraged exposure to Reservoir's srUSD, backed by a multi-collateral balance sheet of digital strategies and RWAs. Total deposits currently stand at ~$3.69M rUSD, with ~330K rUSD slot remaining.

• Capital is deployed through a leveraged looping strategy on Morpho's wsrUSD/USDC market, running at 10.33x effective leverage with $38.2M in total assets against $34.5M in liabilities.

• Yield is generated from the spread between asset APY (4.74%) and borrowing costs (3.60%), amplified by leverage to produce a net APY of ~15.40%.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.