• USDT is still the stablecoin leader with a $144 billion market cap, grabbing a whopping 63% of the entire stablecoin market share.
• The total stablecoin market cap jumped up by 9.61% between January and April of 2025—talk about growth!

The stablecoin sector absolutely smashed records with incredible growth in the first quarter of 2025.

Data from IntoTheBlock reveals some eye-popping numbers. By April 2025, the total supply of stablecoins had already soared to $220 billion! And it didn’t stop there – it kept climbing to reach $233.47 billion in the first week of April. This surge really boils down to three key factors:

Firstly, we’re seeing more and more big institutions jumping into the crypto game. Secondly, there’s a rising demand for liquidity right on the blockchain itself. And thirdly, power in the market is getting concentrated in the hands of just two major players: Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).

USDT’s status as crypto’s de facto liquidity engine

USDT is still the king when it comes to market cap, boasting over $144 billion, which is a massive 63% of the total stablecoin supply. USDC, while playing catch-up, is definitely gaining ground, now holding a $59 billion market cap and 27% of the market share.

Source: IntoTheBlock

Put them together, and these two giants control over 90% of the entire stablecoin space! That leaves very little room for other players and clearly points towards a pretty centralized power dynamic.

This growth aligns with Circle’s upcoming IPO plans

Interestingly, all this growth comes just as Circle has filed to take the company public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “CRCL.”

With backing from major financial institutions like JPMorgan and Citigroup, Circle is aiming for a $5 billion IPO. This is happening even though their net income took a 42% dip, going from $268 million down to $156 million.

Still, the timing feels deliberate. The booming stablecoin market creates a really attractive environment for this kind of move, and it could definitely bring back institutional investors in a big way.

Let’s take a step back for a broader view: the stablecoin market expanded from $206 billion in January to $225.8 billion by April. That’s a solid 9.61% jump in just three months. However, it’s not all smooth sailing for everyone.

Coins like DAI, FRAX, and TUSD are seeing much slower growth, holding onto less than 10% of the market share. This is a pretty clear indication that they’re not gaining traction as quickly.

Ethereum still leads, but Tron is catching up

When we look at which platforms are hosting these stablecoins, Ethereum [ETH] is still in the lead, holding a dominant 53.39% of all stablecoins. Tron is catching up though, sitting at 28.55%, while Solana [SOL], BSC, Base [B3], and Arbitrum [ARB] are sharing the smaller pieces of the pie.

Source: DefiLlama

While this platform trend is pretty consistent, it might also hint at a split in the market, where Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains are starting to specialize in different stablecoin roles.

That said, even with the supply surging, exchange activity is showing a much wilder ride.

Source: IntoTheBlock

February 2025 saw massive activity with peak inflows and outflows around $106.57 billion and $106.01 billion respectively. But then in March, things shifted dramatically. We saw net outflows hit -$2.9 billion, which is the biggest quarterly drop we’ve seen!

And April? It just cooled right off. Both inflows and outflows plummeted by over 80% compared to March.

Adding to the drama, March 31st marked the largest single-day outflow ever recorded – a whopping $1.54 billion, coming right after a massive $1.39 billion inflow on February 3rd. Talk about swings!

So where does this leave the sector?

On one hand, the stablecoin supply is still climbing, and USDC’s bounce back—along with the IPO hype—is definitely boosting institutional confidence.

But on the other hand, those falling exchange flows could be a sign of market fatigue, maybe people taking profits, or even a shift towards holding stablecoins for longer periods.

The next few months will be crucial in showing us if we’ll see a broader decentralization in the stablecoin world, or if it’s going to stay a tightly controlled game with just two main players.