Tether still owns the stablecoin market with 62% share, but honestly the more interesting story is happening at the edges. Circle is the clear winner among established players. USDC grew 29% over the past year and picked up nearly 2 percentage points of share, coming directly at Tether's expense. Tether's supply still grew 14%, not nothing, but growing slower than the overall market means losing ground even while expanding in absolute terms. What stands out to me most is this cohort of challenger issuers compounding fast enough to actually register. Paxos's Global Dollar grew 341%, PayPal's PYUSD grew 236%, Ripple's RLUSD grew 202%. These aren't rounding errors anymore, they're small but genuinely accelerating pieces of the pie. World Liberty's USD1 growing 96% fits the same story, especially given its role in institutional settlement flows this year. The $RLUSD and $PYUSD growth says something specific about where stablecoin demand is coming from now. These are issuers backed by companies with existing payment rails, regulatory relationships, and brand trust outside crypto entirely. That's a different growth driver than pure DeFi-native demand. The interesting part is who's losing share. Ethena dropped 38%, losing 1.3 percentage points, most of that decline happening in H1 2026. First Digital's FDUSD collapsed 78%. Those aren't gradual erosions, they're sharp retreats, and Ethena's decline lines up with sUSDe yields compressing and TVL shrinking industry-wide this year. This says more about market structure than any single token's chart. Stablecoin share is quietly consolidating around issuers with real institutional distribution and payment infrastructure, while yield-dependent tokens struggle to hold ground even in a growing market. #BTC Price Analysis# #Altcoin Season# #USDT