USDC Dominated $10 Trillion Stablecoin Surge in January, Yet Circle’s Stock Keeps Sliding
January 2026 marked a watershed second for stablecoins, with whole on-chain transaction quantity surpassing $10 trillion in a single month. USDC dominated that surge, processing greater than $8.4 trillion in funds, far outpacing rivals and exceeding the mixed month-to-month cost volumes of Visa and Mastercard.
Yet regardless of this explosive progress, Circle, the issuer of USDC, continues to face a pointy disconnect between on-chain actuality and market valuation.
USDC Hits $8.4 Trillion in January Transactions as Circle Stock Slides 80%
According to Artemis information, January’s stablecoin exercise represented one of many strongest indicators but that digital {dollars} are transferring past area of interest crypto use instances and into mainstream monetary infrastructure.
Circle’s marketer, Peter Schroeder, famous that stablecoin transaction quantity crossed $10 trillion in January alone, with USDC accounting for the overwhelming majority of flows ($8.4 trillion).
By comparability, Visa and Mastercard collectively usually course of round $2 trillion in month-to-month funds. Investors, nonetheless, seem unconvinced. Circle’s inventory is down roughly 80% from its peak simply seven months in the past, a divergence that has sparked intense debate amongst analysts and market individuals.
Equity fund government Dan Tapiero identified that whereas stablecoins noticed $33 trillion in whole quantity in 2025 and $10 trillion in January alone, Circle’s fairness continues to cost in failure moderately than scale.
“USDC was $8T of that… in one month,” Tapiero said, arguing that the entire addressable market (TAM) for stablecoins might exceed $1,000 trillion over time.
Others echo the view that the market is misclassifying Circle’s position, arguing that traders nonetheless deal with it as a fintech firm moderately than as core monetary infrastructure.
If this framing is true, then it understates the strategic significance of regulated digital {dollars} in funds, treasury operations, foreign exchange, and capital markets.
Regulatory Clarity Fuels USDC’s Rise as Markets Miss the Signal
Circle itself has leaned into this narrative, stating that stablecoins at the moment are working globally at scale following the convergence of regulatory readability, institutional adoption, and on-chain expertise.
The disconnect between utilization and valuation mirrors a broader crypto sample, with analysts noting that January’s $10 trillion stablecoin quantity annualizes to roughly $120 trillion—almost 40 instances the complete crypto market capitalization of round $3 trillion.
In that context, stablecoins more and more appear like essentially the most profitable real-world crypto product, at the same time as related property battle to mirror that actuality.
Meanwhile, regulation stays a key differentiator for Circle’s stablecoin. USDC’s dominance is extensively attributed to Circle’s compliance-first approach, which has helped it achieve traction with establishments amid world scrutiny of digital property.
Artemis information exhibits stablecoin utilization has expanded from roughly $1 trillion in early 2023 to document ranges at this time, with USDC widening its lead over USDT in a number of exercise metrics.
At the identical time, liquidity continues to construct. Total stablecoin provide is approaching an all-time high close to $310 billion, main some analysts to explain the market as sitting on greater than $300 billion in deployable “dry powder.”
That represents latent demand ready for clearer macro indicators and regulatory certainty.
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