The supply of the two largest stablecoins has declined over the past seven days, even as Congressional tailwinds and a steady drumbeat of institutional partnerships have pushed stablecoins to the forefront of policy discussions.
$USDC Circulating supply subsequently fell by 0.7% in the week, from $75.08 billion to about $74.6 billion, according to DefiLlama. tether’s $USDT It fell 0.1% over the same period, from $186.49 billion to about $186.3 billion. Both majors contracted at the same time, in the opposite direction to what regulation-driven expansion would produce. This backlash, while small in percentage terms, is driven by headlines portraying the stablecoin bill as a growth catalyst.
floats and headings
Qualitative pipeline indicates bullishness. The House of Lords is considering the CLARITY Act, the framework for the GENIUS stablecoin is law, and the Bank of England published draft rules for systemic stablecoins this month. Mastercard has opened its card payment network to stablecoins across eight blockchains, and three of Japan’s megabanks have established a joint stablecoin council.
None of this is reflected in the net new issuance from the two assets that make up the bulk of the market. $USDC and $USDT Together, the two companies have approximately $261 billion in circulating supply, according to DefiLlama. Institutional activity this week has focused on positioning, partnerships, and rails rather than total float.
Issuer level growth
When supply increased, it increased at the issuer level. World Liberty Financial $USD1 It expanded 9.7% in a week to $4.85 billion, an outlier driven by a single issuer that has soared. $USD1 According to DefiLlama, the company’s circulating supply is currently around $4.8 billion, ranking it fifth in the dollar-peg system, with a market share of less than 2%.
This week’s growth was driven by the rise of individual issuers while the dollar value remained flat.
The article’s next reading comes with the Senate’s timeline for the CLARITY Act, which, if passed, would give publishers a clearer federal runway. Until float follows the headlines, the adoption story has moved ahead of on-chain data.
