The adoption of stablecoins has surged, with a recent report from CoinGecko revealing that 8.7 million wallet addresses now hold these digital assets. This growth underlines the growing function that stablecoins perform in the crypto sphere, being a stable link between legacy finance and blockchain.
In this report, Tether (USDT) leads with the greatest holder count, with more than 5.8 million wallets. This comes in as more than twice its closest competitor, the USD Coin (USDC), which has about 2.2 million holders. Other stablecoins are comparatively less held; for instance, DAI has over 505,000 wallet holders.
Stablecoins more commonly represent tokens anchored to some form of real-world reference, such as a fiat currency or commodities. This allows community members to engage within the crypto ecosystem without risking high fluctuations. Ever since the concept was developed and implemented, organizations such as Tether and Circle have enabled users to transmute ordinary money to stablecoins and back.
Fiat-backed stablecoins also increased their market capitalization to $161.2 billion in 2024 but remain lower than the previous high of $181.7 billion in 2021. Fiat-backed stablecoins form the second type, and though they have grown their market cap to $1.3 billion, as seen by Tether Gold (XAUT) and PAX Gold (PAXG), they remain minuscule compared to fiat-backed stablecoins.
Stablecoins Grow to 8.2% of Crypto Market, Despite Volatility Issues
Currently, stablecoins account for 8.2% of the entire cryptocurrency market capitalization, while in January 2020, they composed 2%. This growth is due to the propensity to be used during volatile market times thereby offering safety to investors.
However, most stablecoins have not been effective in stabilizing their value during moments of market volatility. The success of the peg has been relatively higher for well-established stablecoins such as USDT, USDC, and DAI compared to other relatively newly formed or partially algorithmic stablecoins, which have been volatile most of the time.
Overall, the rise in stablecoin adoption reflects their growing importance in the crypto ecosystem, offering stability and accessibility in an otherwise volatile market.
