Key Points
- Ethereum and TRON hold a combined $144.4 billion, or 83.9% of the stablecoin market.
- Stablecoins are becoming increasingly important in global finance, with projected settlements reaching $5.28 trillion by the end of 2024.
Ethereum and TRON Lead in Stablecoin Market
Ethereum and TRON are the leading forces in the stablecoin market.
Together, they hold nearly 84% of the market, valued at $144.4 billion as of September.
CoinGecko’s estimates show that Ethereum is in the lead with $84.6 billion, which is 49.1% of the total stablecoin supply.
TRON is not far behind with $59.8 billion, making up 34.8% of the market.
However, Ethereum’s stablecoin supply saw a decline in its market share despite an increase of $17.2 billion in 2024.
This was due to several factors including the collapse of Terra’s stablecoin UST, the onset of a bear market, and the rise of layer 2 solutions.
TRON’s dominance is largely due to the high demand for Tether (USDT), which makes up 98.3% of the stablecoins on the network.
Nevertheless, TRON’s market share fell from 37.9% earlier in the year despite a 21.6% supply increase.
Stablecoins and the Global Finance Landscape
Stablecoins are reshaping the global finance landscape.
BNB Chain, formerly known as BNB Smart Chain, is ranked third but has seen its share drop to 2.9%.
This is due to regulatory challenges around Binance USD (BUSD), which reduced the chain’s stablecoin supply by 61% since May 2022.
Emerging blockchains like Coinbase’s Base are gaining ground, with a stablecoin supply growth of 1,941.5% in 2024.
This suggests that the stablecoin landscape is diversifying.
Stablecoins are playing a central role in global finance.
They settled $3.7 trillion in transactions in 2023 and are projected to reach $5.28 trillion by the end of 2024.
Data from Castle Island Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital shows that the use of stablecoins is growing beyond exchange settlement.
They are particularly popular in emerging markets where they are used for savings, currency conversion, and yield generation.
A survey of over 2,540 crypto users across Nigeria, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil, and India found that trading crypto or non-fungible tokens is the most popular use for stablecoins.
However, non-crypto purposes are also becoming increasingly popular.