USDT wins payments, USDC wins DeFi as stablecoins diverge: Dune
The world‘s biggest stablecoins are increasingly becoming chain-specific financial products, with Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circles USDC (USDC) serving distinct roles across the crypto ecosystem rather than competing head-on. Dune‘s Digital Asset Brief found that USDT overwhelmingly dominates onchain payments. During the first half of 2026, the biggest stablecoin settled about $95 billion in identified commerce payments, compared with $14 billion for second-biggest USDC. It also accounted for roughly 92% of the $48 billion in business-to-business payment volume. On Tron, USDT’s largest network, around 93% of the tokens supply is held in ordinary wallets rather than on exchanges, underscoring its role as a payment and remittance asset. USDC, meanwhile, has established itself as the dominant stablecoin in decentralized finance. USDC on Base processed roughly $2.6 trillion in transfer volume in June, the highest of any token-chain pair, while on Ethereum, that stablecoin handled another $1.6 trillion. USDC on Base recorded daily velocity of about 20 times its circulating supply in June, reflecting its extensive use in trading and DeFi. Source: Dune The findings suggest the traditional USDT-versus-USDC narrative is becoming less useful. Instead, each stablecoin is carving out its own niche, with USDT dominating payments and USDC underpinning much of cryptos trading and DeFi