Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT are currently the leading stablecoins, with USDC showing promising growth in volume and market share by 2025, although it still lags behind USDT. This analysis delves into data provided by Kaiko's recent report to assess USDC's position in the competitive stablecoin market.

The Kaiko Research report reveals that USDC achieved a record trading volume of $219 billion in April 2025, doubling the $106.5 billion recorded in January 2024. Binance played a significant role in this growth, holding over 57% of USDC's global trading volume following a strategic partnership with Circle in December 2024. USDC's market share on Binance increased from 10% to nearly 20%, while USDT's share decreased from 75% to about 60%.

USDC's volume surge can be attributed to the Binance partnership, granting access to a broad user base, and the rising demand for compliant stablecoins in regions like Europe, where regulatory frameworks like MiCA are in place. Comparing volume changes, USDC outperformed USDT, with USDT's volume dropping by 49% since November 2024 and USDC's increasing by 16%.

Despite the growth, USDC still trails USDT significantly, with USDT's market capitalization at $152 billion in May 2025 – 2.3 times higher than in July 2022. In comparison, USDC's market capitalization of $60 billion is only 12% higher than its July 2022 level. Tether reported profits of $13 billion in 2024, far surpassing Circle's $155 million earnings during the same period. USDT remains dominant in off-exchange applications, particularly in cross-border payments.

Although USDC and USDT currently lead the stablecoin market, new contenders such as major financial institutions like PayPal, World Liberty Financial, Fidelity, Ripple, BlackRock, and Meta are entering the scene, signaling potential shifts in the stablecoin landscape.