Tether moves roughly $88 billion every day as of early 2026, more than the GDP of many countries. And it’s not alone – many stablecoins like USDC and DAI and newcomers like Ethena USDe have become pillars of the crypto ecosystem.
Stablecoins play a key role in crypto: They offer price stability, cross-border transactions at speed, and, for some, fiat-backed confidence. For crypto investors, choosing the right stablecoin can impact yield farming, trading, and transaction fees.
To get started in crypto, you’ll need access to the best crypto exchanges that support major stablecoins and offer tools for trading and storing your assets securely.
Editor's note: Numbers have been updated to reflect trading volumes, market cap, and other metrics from early January 2026, but will likely change again as the year progresses.
The largest and most popular stablecoins in 2026
The table below shows the largest stablecoins by market capitalization as well as their daily volume and circulating supply as of January 2026.
Rank | Stablecoin | Market Cap | Daily volume | Circulating supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tether (USDT) | $186,899,204,738 | $88,765,127,167 | 187.09 billion USDT |
2 | USDC (USDC) | $75,212,523,714 | $11,649,205,731 | 75.22 billion USDC |
3 | PayPal USD (PYUSD) | $3,646,449,388 | $95,348,645 | 3.64 billion PYUSD |
4 | Ripple USD (RLUSD) | $1,335,898,188 | $122,273,771 | 1.33 billion RLUSD |
5 | First Digital USD (FDUSD) | $505,471,087 | $3,865,501,319 | 506.31 million FDUSD |
6 | TrueUSD (TUSD) | $493,300,000 | $12,369,590 | 494.51 million TUSD |
7 | EURC (EURC) | $361,414,041 | $32,271,054 | 309.52 million EURC |
8 | STASIS EURO (EURS) | $144,497,745 | $5,190 | 124.12 million EURS |
9 | Frax USD (FRXUSD) | $122,849,765 | $151,747 | 122.92 million FRXUSD |
10 | BUSD (BUSD) | $54,651,413 | $837,213 | 54.64 million BUSD |
1. Tether
Market cap: $181,921,595,302 | Volume: $140,722,746,541 | Circulating supply: 181.87 billion USDT
Tether (USDT -0.02%) is the original stablecoin. Launched in 2014, it still dominates the crypto ecosystem in 2025 with a $158.9 billion market cap, more than 2.5 times the size of second-place USDC. Tether’s daily trading volume is more than $100 billion, which reflects unmatched usage in trading and settling despite periodic controversies over reserves and transparency.
2. USDC
Market cap: $75,978,607,108 | Volume: $16,667,670,407 | Circulating supply: 75.98 billion USDC
USD Coin (USDC +0.00%), issued by Circle and built on Ethereum, is the second-largest stablecoin by market cap and third-largest by daily volume. USDC has focused on integration into the traditional financial system. It can be used to settle transactions in Visa’s (V +0.18%) network, and its issuing company, Circle, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2025.
3. Ethena
Market cap: $11,874,037,723 | Volume: $429,703,138 | Circulating supply: 11.88 billion USDe
Ethena USDe (USDE +0.05%) is the fourth-largest stablecoin by market cap. It uses Ethereum-based financial tools rather than fiat currency reserves to maintain its peg. Ethena is another stablecoin that’s popular in the DeFi space, in part due to its efficiency.
4. Dai
Market cap: $5,364,812,227 | Volume: $116,250,432 | Circulating supply: 5.36 billion DAI
Dai (DAI -0.02%) is a decentralized, crypto-collateralized stablecoin created by MakerDAO in 2017. Its market cap of $5.4 billion is well below those of USDC and Tether, but its $20.6 billion daily volume is the second-largest of any stablecoin. That’s thanks to its deep integration with DeFi protocols, making it the stablecoin of choice for investors in that space.
5. PayPal USD
Market cap: $2,733,700,807 | Volume: $95,348,645 | Circulating supply: 2.73 billion PYUSD
PayPal’s native stablecoin, PUSD (PUSD +0.11%), is the seventh-largest by market cap, although its volume is low relative to others on the list. Currently, PayPal USD sees most of its usage within the PayPal (PYPL +0.76%) ecosystem for digital payments rather than trading on major crypto exchanges. That could position this stablecoin as a fintech-first crypto tool.
6. World Liberty Financial USD1
Market cap: $2,687,990,881 | Volume: $375,958,598 | Circulating supply: 2.68 billion USD1
USD1 (CRYPTO:USD1) is issued by World Liberty Financial, which has deep ties to the Trump family. Sixty percent of World Liberty Financial, the issuer of USD1, is reportedly owned by a Trump business, and President Trump’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., manage the company alongside others.
USD1 is one of the fastest-growing stablecoins. Transactions involving USD1 have come under scrutiny due to World Liberty Financial’s proximity to the president, including a $2 billion transaction involving a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and a $75 million transaction involving Justin Sun that occurred prior to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly abandoning an investigation into his companies.
7. First Digital USD
Market cap: $1,011,707,647 | Volume: $6,815,500,079 | Circulating supply: 1.01 billion FDUSD
Launched in 2023 and issued out of Hong Kong, FDUSD (FDUSD -0.07%) has growing popularity outside of the U.S. Its transaction volume is high relative to its market cap, which is the sixth-largest among stablecoins.
8. Ripple USD
Market cap: $874,059,348 | Volume: $87,762,198 | Circulating supply: 873.99 million RLUSD
Ripple’s RLUSD (RLUSD +0.01%) stablecoin is relatively new. It was introduced after the resolution of Ripple’s legal case with the SEC over XRP and is aimed at supporting Ripple’s cross-border payment system. Its primary use case has been in enterprise contexts that employ Ripple’s blockchain settlement network.
9. TrueUSD
Market cap: $492,965,294 | Volume: $45,925,544 | Circulating supply: 494.51 million TUSD
TrueUSD (TUSD -0.08%) launched in 2018 as one of the first fully collateralized stablecoins that aimed to compete with Tether. But its popularity has waned as other stablecoins have more aggressively integrated throughout exchanges and crypto ecosystems.
10. USDD
Market cap: $465,511,358 | Volume: $4,068,338 | Circulating supply: 465.25 million USDD
A TRON-backed stablecoin, USDD (USDD -0.08%) launched in 2022. It was modeled at first on the defunct TerraUSD but later moved to a more reserve-backed model. Its daily volume is hamstrung by its use staying largely within the TRON (TRX -0.76%) ecosystem.
The future of stablecoins
Stablecoins are no longer niche. They’re the foundation of crypto’s financial plumbing and slowly integrating into traditional financial services. The stablecoin market is also diverse and dynamic, from Tether’s dominant position despite consistent questions about its backing to USDC’s trust-first approach and synthetic offerings from others.
One question looming over the entire crypto ecosystem is how welcoming traditional financial services will be to digital tokens. Stablecoins might be the bridge between the old and new.
Other stablecoin research
- Payment processing fees: stablecoins, credit cards, debit cards, and BNPL
- How Are Banks, Card Networks, and Payment Processors Adapting to Stablecoins?
- Survey: 50% of U.S. Consumers Open to Paying With Stablecoins
- Which companies accept stablecoin payments?
- Stablecoin Reserves Versus Brokerages and Banks: Which Holds More in 2025?
Sources
- CoinMarketCap (2025). “CoinMarketCap.”
About the Author
Jack Caporal has positions in PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short March 2026 $65 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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