USDT Leads On-Chain Payments; USDC Dominates DeFi Activity
Dune found USDT settled about $95 billion in on-chain commerce payments in H1 2026 while USDC accounted for $14 billion; in June USDC moved $2.6T on Base and $1.6T on Ethereum.
Dune’s Digital Asset Brief found that Tether’s USDT settled roughly $95 billion in identified on-chain commerce payments in the first half of 2026. Circle’s USDC settled about $14 billion in the same period.
The report tracked transfer and payment flows across multiple blockchains. Dune identified USDT as the largest stablecoin used for commerce settlements and calculated that USDT made up about 92% of an estimated $48 billion in business-to-business payment volume over the first half of 2026.
Dune noted network-level distributions that align with payment use. On Tron, where USDT has its largest presence, about 93% of the token’s supply was held in ordinary wallets rather than exchange addresses. USDT’s total supply is split roughly evenly between Tron and Ethereum.
By contrast, USDC showed heavier activity tied to trading and decentralized finance. In June, USDC on Base recorded about $2.6 trillion in transfer volume, the largest token-chain pair measured by Dune, and USDC on Ethereum moved about $1.6 trillion in the same month. Dune reported that USDC on Base had a daily velocity near 20 times its circulating supply in June, indicating rapid turnover through decentralized exchanges, lending platforms and other financial contracts.
Together, USDT and USDC represented roughly 83% of the stablecoin sector’s approximate $315 billion market capitalization in Dune’s dataset. The dataset covered more than 200 stablecoin tokens across multiple chains.
U.S. regulation has changed the context for stablecoin issuance and use. The GENIUS Act, enacted in 2025, established a federal framework for payment stablecoins and enabled banks and other firms to issue dollar-pegged digital assets. Lawmakers are debating the CLARITY Act, which would define which regulator-the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission-oversees different digital asset activities. The CLARITY Act does not directly regulate stablecoins but could affect issuers, exchanges and DeFi platforms by clarifying regulatory jurisdiction. The bill cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May and was on a potential path to a full Senate vote before the August recess, though its prospects for passage this session remain uncertain.
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