At first glance, stablecoins all look the same, digital dollars priced at $1 but their market caps tell a very different story.

𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬𝘴, 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘍𝘪 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.

Understanding why one stablecoin is worth $186B while another stalls at $1.4B is really about understanding how capital actually moves through crypto today.

These are the top 10 stablecoins by market cap 👇
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➢ 𝐓𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 (𝐔𝐒𝐃𝐓) - $186.6 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
USDT is issued by @tether and sits at the top because it functions as the global settlement dollar of crypto.

Its scale comes from being the default base pair on CEX, deep liquidity across every major chains, and heavy use in derivatives, arbitrage, and cross-border trading.

Market participants value availability and liquidity over purity of regulation, which keeps USDT dominant despite ongoing scrutiny.
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➢ 𝐔𝐒𝐃 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐧 (𝐔𝐒𝐃𝐂) - $76.6 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
USDC is issued by @circle and has reached this size due to institutional trust, regulatory alignment, and strong DeFi integration.

Its supply reflects usage by fintechs, payment firms, onchain treasuries, and protocols that require transparent reserves and compliance clarity. USDC’s market cap expands and contracts with institutional risk appetite rather than speculative trading volume.
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➢ 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐔𝐒𝐃𝐞 (𝐔𝐒𝐃𝐞) - $6.47 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
USDe is issued by @ethena_labs and represents a new category which is a synthetic, yield-backed dollar.

Its rapid growth is driven by delta-neutral yield strategies that make USDe attractive as a productive stable asset rather than a passive one.

The market cap reflects demand from DeFi-native users seeking dollar exposure with embedded yield, rather than payments or exchange settlement.
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➢ 𝐒𝐤𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 (𝐔𝐒𝐃𝐒) - $6.21 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
USDS is issued by @SkyEcosystem and is effectively the successor structure around Dai.

Its size reflects Maker’s long-standing role as DeFi’s core credit issuer, with supply driven by overcollateralized borrowing and protocol-controlled liquidity.

The market cap is smaller than USDC or USDT because growth is constrained by collateral quality and risk management rather than pure demand.
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➢ 𝐃𝐚𝐢 (𝐃𝐀𝐈) - $4.69 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
DAI is issued by @MakerDAO and maintains relevance as the original decentralized stablecoin.

Its market cap reflects conservative issuance policies, reliance on crypto and RWA collateral, and declining appetite for leverage-based minting during lower-risk cycles.
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➢ 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐏𝐚𝐥 𝐔𝐒𝐃 (𝐏𝐘𝐔𝐒𝐃) - $3.69 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
PYUSD is issued by @PayPal, with custody and issuance handled by @Paxos.

Its market cap is driven by PayPal’s distribution power and consumer trust, but limited by relatively narrow on-chain utility so far.

Most PYUSD supply exists to support payments, wallets, and internal transfers rather than DeFi or exchange liquidity, which caps its growth for now.
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➢ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐔𝐒𝐃 $3.51 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
This stablecoin is issued by @worldlibertyfi, a politically and institutionally branded financial initiative.

Its rapid recent growth suggests concentrated issuance tied to treasury management, institutional allocation, or structured financial flows rather than organic retail demand. The market cap reflects sponsorship and capital deployment decisions more than open-market adoption.
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➢ 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐒𝐃 (𝐔𝐒𝐃𝐟) - $2.05 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
USDf is issued by @falconfinance and has grown through targeted integrations and treasury-style use cases.

Its size suggests adoption by specific funds, protocols, or financial products rather than broad exchange usage. The market cap reflects controlled issuance tied to yield, credit, or structured products.
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➢ 𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐔𝐒𝐘𝐂 (𝐔𝐒𝐘𝐂) - $1.50 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
USYC is issued by @circle as a tokenized yield-bearing cash instrument rather than a pure $1 stablecoin.

Its market cap reflects demand for compliant, on-chain cash equivalents backed by short-duration Treasuries.
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➢ 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 (𝐔𝐒𝐃𝐆) $1.44 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐩.
USDG is issued by @global_dollar, participants and has grown quickly due to recent integrations and distribution incentives.

Its market cap reflects early-stage expansion and onboarding of liquidity partners rather than entrenched usage. Growth appears driven by ecosystem rollout rather than organic demand maturity.

Which of these do you use frequently? Lemme know in the comments 👇