Circle’s USDC Overtakes Tether As Stablecoin Transfers Hit $1.8 Trillion

Transfer volume shifted to USDC

The reported February flow split is precise enough to matter:

• Total stablecoin transfer activity: $1.8 trillion.
• USDC transfer volume: roughly $1.26 trillion.
• USDT transfer volume: roughly $514 billion.
• USDC share of total stablecoin transfer activity: about 70%.

That puts USDC at more than double USDT’s transfer volume for the month, based on the cited Allium data. Stocktwits also reported that Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, said USDC had “consistently flipped” Tether in transfer volume in recent months.

The balance sheet comparison still points the other way. USDC is reported at about $77.4 billion in market value. USDT is reported at roughly $184 billion. So the structure is split: USDT remains larger by outstanding supply, while USDC is reported to be carrying higher transfer throughput.

That distinction is material. Market capitalization measures issued fiat-equivalent liabilities. Transfer volume measures movement. The first is collateral base and outstanding claims. The second is settlement usage. They are related, but not interchangeable.

Circle is using USDC as treasury plumbing

The transfer-volume data sits next to another operational datapoint. Arkham reportedly said Circle minted more than $3 billion of USDC during the first week of March, including a $250 million issuance on Solana.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also said the company used USDC and Circle Mint to settle $68 million in intercompany transfers across eight entities. The transfers were completed in under 30 minutes, according to the report. Allaire said this replaced traditional fiat wire transfers that typically took one to three days to settle.

The important point is not speed as a marketing claim. It is treasury design. Circle described a setup that let treasury teams move funds continuously while maintaining approval controls and audit processes used in corporate finance operations.

That is the direction stablecoin issuers have been selling to institutions: dollar settlement with attestable rails, programmable controls, and reduced dependency on banking-hour liquidity. The confirmed datapoint here is limited to Circle’s own entities. It should not be expanded into a broader claim about corporate adoption.

Tether remains larger, but the flow map is changing

Tether’s position is not erased by one transfer-volume metric. The reported USDT market value of roughly $184 billion remains well above USDC’s roughly $77.4 billion. That is the larger liability base and the deeper nominal dollar float.

But the liquidity delta in February is visible. If USDC processed about $1.26 trillion and USDT about $514 billion, then transfer activity was not aligned with market cap ranking. For desks, exchanges, payment processors, and treasury teams, that creates a practical check: do not use supply alone as a proxy for active settlement demand.

There are also adjacent signals around stablecoin competition. Banking Dive reported that a consortium of more than 140 businesses, including Visa, Mastercard, and BNY, launched Open USD, described as a stablecoin designed to reduce minting and redemption fees. Azat TV framed the same area as a challenge to Circle’s stablecoin dominance. Separately, Crowdfund Insider reported that Tether-issued USA₮ had reserves over $157 million.

These are separate facts, not a single causal chain. The common denominator is fee pressure, reserve transparency, and payment-rail competition.

For USDT watchers, the audit path is clear. Track monthly transfer volume by issuer. Separate market cap from settlement velocity. Watch mints by chain, especially when tied to treasury movement. Compare redemption cost, issuance control, and attestation cadence. The systemic impact is narrow but important: stablecoin dominance is no longer measured by outstanding supply alone.