USDC’s 2025 Surge: Circle’s Stablecoin Posts Second-Best Year Ever, Rivaling 2021 Bull Market Heights

Circle's USDC stablecoin has just concluded its second most successful year on record in 2025, with growth momentum rivaling only the explosive 2021 bull market. The dollar-pegged asset shattered records by expanding its circulation to over 76 billion tokens across all networks, marking a mature phase of adoption fueled by deeper liquidity and key partnerships. Ethereum led the charge with a massive 6.73% supply increase—adding roughly $20 billion—while strategic alliances, notably with Coinbase, accelerated its use as a mainstream payment tool.

USDC expands activity and user base on Ethereum

The extra supply of USDC was not just a tool for whales or professional traders. USDC holders on Ethereum became more active in 2025, doubling their activity in the course of a year. 

At the beginning of 2025, just 22% of USDC holders on Ethereum were active on a monthly basis. Activity rose to 44% by the end of the year, while asset senders expanded from 2.1M at the start of 2025 to around 4M by the end of the year.

The shift in USDC usage was caused by multiple factors, including the record-low fees on Ethereum. USDC became more widely adopted as more apps and platforms preferred the regulated token over USDT. 

A total of 43.1M users hold USDC, an all-time record on all networks based on active wallets. This has led to robust growth for transfers in 2025, extending the trend into Q1 2026. Individual identified holders are around 6.28M, keeping the growth trend into the new year. In March, the USDC transaction volume expanded by another 160%, based on Artemis data, surpassing the USDT growth of 140%. 

Why does USDC defy the market gravity? 

The growth of USDC does not follow the overall contraction of the crypto market. Currently, around $16B in USDC are held in contracts, bringing liquidity to trading pairs and lending. 

USDC has also become the key asset on Hyperliquid and Polymarket, offsetting the lower use for trading on centralized and decentralized exchanges.

Circle’s growth in 2025 also relied on hopes of the Clarity Act boosting the position of stablecoins. Despite this, Circle’s CRCL shares took a hit, sinking to $91.20, after the Clarity Act excluded the usage of stablecoins as an alternative to a savings account with yield.

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