USDC issued by Circle hit an all-time high with its supply reaching $81.1 billion. According to the latest data, USDC surpassed Tether’s USDT in terms of transaction volume for the first time since 2019. This development reveals that regulatory compliance and transparency are effective in determining institutional preferences against USDT, which has a liquidity advantage.
Uninterrupted Increase in USDC Supply
USDC, launched by Circle in 2018, is known as a digital dollar stablecoin issued by a US-based technology company, backed and supervised by reserve assets. USDC, which exceeded the level of 25 billion dollars in the bull market in 2021, rose to 55 billion dollars in 2022. Then, after the downward trend in 2023, it recovered again and exceeded all previous peaks with a supply of 81.1 billion dollars at the beginning of 2026. While the Ethereum network holds the highest share in supply; USDC growth on new networks such as Solana, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon and Sui, HyperEVM has accelerated in the last two years.
Conversion in Trading Volume
In parallel with the supply record, USDC also reached an important milestone in total transaction volume. While the adjusted transaction volume reached approximately 2.2 trillion dollars at the beginning of 2026, the volume of USDT remained at 1.3 trillion dollars in the same period. In February, USDC accounted for approximately 70 percent of the total stablecoin transfer volume of $1.8 trillion. The rate at which each USDC unit changes hands is much higher than USDT. This shows that USDC is used more in active transactions and payments. Moreover, although USDC is ahead in transaction volume, it continues to have a size below USDT’s total market value of $185 billion.
Factors Shaping Corporate Choice
Three main elements stand out in the change in the preferences of global financial institutions. The first is regulatory compliance. USDC stands out with its structure compliant with the GENIUS Act regulations in the USA and MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulations in Europe, and has become the preferred stablecoin for financial institutions that have to work in accordance with the regulations. The recent acquisition of MiCA licenses in Europe by Swiss-based platforms such as SwissBorg, Relai and Blockchain.com has accelerated this trend.
The second important element is that artificial intelligence-based applications and automation systems come to the fore in the use of USDC. Circle announced that 98.6 percent of payments made by artificial intelligence-based systems in 2026 will be completed with USDC. It was reported that more than 140 million transactions in total were carried out by artificial intelligence.
Circle said in its statement: “Almost all of the payments made by autonomous systems are concluded in USDC, and the increase due to this new demand is growing rapidly every year.”
The third point is integration with traditional finance. Recently, large institutions such as Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock have implemented new payment and reconciliation systems with USDC, resulting in a significant increase in corporate volume.
Market Expectations for Circle
Circle Internet Group was closely monitored by analysts after it began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CRCL. Bernstein raised his 12-month price target on Circle shares to $190 in March, highlighting the company’s growth, particularly in payments and enterprise. William Blair also reiterated his “bullish” rating, noting Circle’s financial resilience and growing interest in its business model.
In contrast, the gap between Mizuho’s $120 price target and Bernstein indicates uncertainty about Circle’s future valuation. Since a significant portion of company revenues depend on interest income from reserve assets, changes in the interest rate environment can have a direct impact on profitability. In Bernstein’s evaluation, attention was drawn to the prediction that the increase in transaction volume, revenues from AI payments and corporate usage areas may become more stable over time.
Exceeding the $81.1 billion supply limit and the leadership change in transaction volume show that USDC’s role in the financial sector and digital payments is strengthening.
