Circle Releases USDC ‘State of Economy’ Report As Market Cap Rebounds

Circle has released its State of the USDC Economy report highlighting the stablecoin’s growth and changes since its launch in 2018.

According to the 23-page report, the number of wallets holding more than $10 of USDC has grown by 59% in the past year to 2.7M. The company also touts 595M transactions through the end of November 2023.

Circle writes that “first impressions are hard to shake,” referencing the use of stablecoins for leveraged speculation. In 2019, every dollar of non-USDC stablecoins supported roughly $5 of crypto daily trading volume, although that has changed.

The company claims that stablecoin usage for speculation is dwindling, with USDC dropping more than 90% in terms of leverage since 2019. Its flagship token has also been used to send value worth $12 trillion since its inception.

The report goes on to spotlight dozens of use cases and partnerships – including aid organizations like the International Rescue Committee and global HR platform Deel – across both emerging and developing markets.

USDC market share dwindles

Notably, while Circle emphasizes growth across all of its metrics – highlighting its partnership with BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm that manages most of USDC reserves – USDC’s market capitalization has been in free fall since early March 2023.

Peaking in June 2022 at $56B, the stablecoin plummeted to its lowest point in 2 years when it bottomed out in mid-November 2023, with a market cap of just over $24B. That’s a nearly 60% drop, as per Coingecko.

The digital dollar has bounced back in recent months, however, adding slightly more than $1B to its market cap. It ranks seventh among all digital assets, trailing the leading stablecoin on the market, USDT, by nearly $70 billion.