Corporate treasury teams are replacing bank transfers with settlements in stablecoins. As a result, USDC is outpacing USDT in terms of transfer volume. Meanwhile, the overall activity of stablecoins is reaching record levels.
This change reflects a broader structural shift in the way companies move money, driven by speed, costs, and institutional demand for regulated dollar-denominated rails.
The volume of stablecoins is hitting records as USDC outpaces USDT.
According to Leon Waidmann, head of research at Lisk, the total stablecoin transaction volume reached $1.8 trillion in February 2026.
More importantly, USDC surpassed USDT in transfer volume, which did not happen during the dominance of Tether's stablecoins.
Waidmann attributed this reversal to a clear preference among institutional participants for regulated, compliant digital dollar infrastructure.
Data suggests that institutions, rather than retail traders, are currently the main force behind stablecoin activity.
The broader market reflects the same trend. According to data, the total market capitalization of stablecoins rose to $314 billion, up from $131 billion in January 2024.
Reece Merrick, CEO at Ripple, noted that stablecoins processed $33 trillion in transactions in 2025. This is about twice the annual volume processed by Visa.
Transaction volume increased by 72% year-over-year, while the number of active users rose by 146% in 106 countries.
Cross-border payments between businesses were the fastest-growing use case, increasing by 733% to $226 billion in global stablecoin flows.
Merrick also emphasized remittances, payroll automation, and inflation hedging in emerging markets as key drivers of adoption.
Regional adoption is also accelerating. The volatility of the Turkish lira has increased demand for dollar-denominated stablecoins in the Middle East and North Africa.
Nigeria processes $59 billion in annual remittances, and stablecoins are increasingly displacing traditional transfer services.
The United Arab Emirates has approved the dirham-backed stablecoin, DDSC, for institutional settlements, targeting a $170 billion market.
Circle settles $68 million in 30 minutes by scaling its infrastructure.
The corporate treasury use case became tangible when Circle Internet Group utilized USDC and its Circle Mint platform to settle $68 million across eight internal entities in less than 30 minutes.
The same transfers would take one to three days through conventional bank transfers.
Circle's CEO, Jeremy Allaire, said the workflow completed about 90% of transfer pricing settlements between companies in a single day, significantly shortening the monthly closing process.
The system operates continuously, outside of banking hours, and maintains full auditability and role-based approvals.
Speaking during a call about the company's earnings, Allaire presented this exercise as evidence that stablecoin settlements can be integrated with existing corporate treasury infrastructure without the need to rebuild financial workflows from scratch.
In the meantime, Coinbase is building infrastructure to support this kind of large-scale adoption. Business director Shan Aggarwal stated that the exchange has developed a vertically integrated stack of stablecoins.
It includes issuance, settlements through the Base Layer-2 (L2) network, and wallets for both consumer and institutional use.
USDC balances across all Coinbase products reached $17.8 billion at the end of Q4 2024.
USDC surpasses USDT: Bernstein backs Circle
In another place, Bernstein analysts rated Circle's shares as better than forecasts, predicting a 71% increase to $190 from the then price of $111.
The company described Circle as a “long-term category winner,” citing:
regulatory compliance
strategic partnerships
liquidity position
speech technology
According to Bernstein analysts, these are competitive moats that rivals would have difficulty replicating.
Circle reported $2.7 billion in revenue in 2025, a 64% increase from 2024. Transaction revenues were the fastest-growing segment, rising 112% year-over-year, driven by the adoption of USDC in forecasting markets and other applications.
However, competition is increasing. Tether launched USAT, a federally regulated stablecoin pegged to the dollar, in January 2026 to re-enter the U.S. market, where Circle holds a dominant position.
At the time of writing, the issuance of USAT was slightly below $20 million, according to DefiLlama.
Separately, fintech companies, including PayPal, Stripe, and Klarna, along with several banks, announced their own stablecoin initiatives.
Can Circle maintain its edge as the stablecoin market expands into corporate treasury, AI-based payments, and emerging market corridors?
Everything may depend on how quickly its regulated infrastructure scales relative to the growing field of participants.
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