170 Million Stablecoin Holders: Data Reveals the Real World of Commerce and Liquidity

By early 2026, analysis of stablecoins on the blockchain presents a significant picture. The data analytics platform Dune, in collaboration with Steakhouse Financial, released a comprehensive stablecoin dataset revealing the complex world of over 170 million addresses holding stablecoins. This data is not just about numbers; it shows how stablecoins are actually functioning.

Market Supply and Dominance: USDT and USDC Still in Control

By the start of 2026, the total supply of the top 15 stablecoins on EVM-compatible blockchains, Solana, and Tron reached $3.04 trillion, a 49% increase from the previous year. However, 89% of the market is still controlled by two players: Tether’s USDT ($1.97 trillion) and Circle’s USDC ($730 billion).

The supply distribution across blockchains paints an interesting picture. Ethereum leads with $1.76 trillion (58%), followed by Tron with $840 billion (28%), Solana with $150 billion (5%), and BNB Chain with $130 billion (4%). Despite nearly doubling the total supply, each blockchain’s market share has remained roughly unchanged from last year.

2025 was a pivotal year with new stablecoins showing strong growth. Sky Ecosystem’s USDS grew by 376%, reaching $63 billion. PayPal’s PYUSD surged 753% to $28 billion, while Ripple’s RLUSD increased by 1,803% to $11 billion. Not all competitors succeeded—USD0 declined 66%, and Ethena’s USDe peaked in October but ended the year up 23%.

Holder Centralization: Decentralized vs. Centralized

There are 170 million addresses holding stablecoins, but distribution is uneven. USDT is held by 136 million addresses, USDC by 36 million, and DAI by 47 million.

A key feature of these three main stablecoins is their decentralized distribution. The top 10 wallets hold only 23-26% of supply, with a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) below 0.03, indicating near-complete decentralization.

In contrast, other stablecoins are highly centralized. 90% of USDS supply is concentrated in the top 10 wallets (HHI 0.48), 99% of USDF in the top 10 (HHI 0.54), and USD0 is the most centralized, with 99% in the top 10 wallets (HHI 0.84). This directly shows that these newer stablecoins are still establishing their market positions.

This isn’t necessarily a problem—some are new, some are designed for institutional demand. But it means their supply data should be interpreted differently from USDT or USDC. Centralization impacts contract risk, liquidity depth, and indicates whether supply reflects natural market demand or is driven by a few large participants.

$10.3 Trillion: Where Are Stablecoin DEX and CEX Flows Going?

As of January 2026, stablecoin transfer volume on EVM, Solana, and Tron reached $10.3 trillion, more than doubling from January 2025. But more important than the total figure is where this capital is flowing.

Flow Distribution Across Chains

Base’s supply is only $44 billion, yet it leads with $5.9 trillion in transfer volume. Ethereum saw $2.4 trillion, Tron $680 billion, Solana $544 billion, and BNB Chain $406 billion.

By token, USDC dominates with $8.3 trillion, nearly five times USDT’s $1.7 trillion—though USDC’s supply is only 2.7 times smaller than USDT’s. DAI saw $1.38 trillion, USDS $920 billion, and USD1 $430 billion in transfers.

Actual Stablecoin Activities

This isn’t just “trading volume”—it’s categorized on-chain activities:

Market structure (DEX and liquidity): $5.9 trillion provided and withdrawn in DEX liquidity—its largest use case. DEX swaps reached $3.76 trillion. Both show stablecoins mainly serve as underlying assets and liquidity infrastructure for on-chain trading.

Productivity and capital efficiency: Flash loans (instant borrowing and repayment) hit $1.3 trillion, while leveraged activities (borrowing, lending, repayment, withdrawals) totaled $1.37 trillion. This reflects short-term on-chain capital efficiency and structured credit.

CEX and bridge activity: Centralized exchanges saw $5.99 trillion in flows (deposits, withdrawals, internal transfers), with cross-chain bridges at $280 billion. This indicates stablecoins play a key role in CEX trading and cross-chain settlement.

Issuer operations: Minting, burning, de-pegging, and other activities totaled $1.06 trillion—more than double last year’s $420 billion.

Overall, 90% of transfer volume flows through identified activity categories, providing a detailed view of activity at every level of the stablecoin economy.

Circulation Rate: Same Token, Different Ecosystems, Different Lives

The daily circulation rate (transfer volume divided by supply) is perhaps the least appreciated metric in stablecoin analysis. It shows how actively stablecoins are traded, not just held.

On Base, USDC’s daily circulation rate reaches 14x, mainly due to high-frequency DeFi activity. On Solana and Polygon, it’s about 1x, while on Ethereum it’s 0.9x—meaning nearly all supply is traded daily.

USDT’s velocity varies by chain. On BNB Chain, the daily flow rate is 1.4x, indicating active trading. On Tron, it’s 0.3x—less trading volume but unusually stable, fitting its role in cross-border payments. On Ethereum, USDT’s daily circulation rate is only 0.2x, with over $1000 billion in supply remaining inactive.

USDe and USDS’s slow circulation isn’t accidental. On Ethereum, USDe’s rate is just 0.09x, USDS’s 0.5x. Both are designed to generate yield: USDe converts to sUSDe to profit from Ethena’s delta-neutral strategy, USDS is placed in Sky Savings Rate. Low circulation isn’t a flaw—it’s a feature. These assets are meant to produce income, not just circulate.

On Solana, PYUSD’s daily rate is 0.6x, four times higher than its 0.1x on Ethereum. The same token, vastly different usage patterns across ecosystems.

Multi-Currency Future: Euro, Yen, and Beyond

This analysis focuses on $15 stablecoins, but the full dataset offers a broader view. It includes over 200 stablecoins representing more than 20 currencies: euros (17 tokens, $9.9 billion supply), Brazilian real, Japanese yen, Nigerian naira, Kenyan shilling, South African rand, Turkish lira, Indonesian rupiah.

Currently, non-dollar stablecoins total only $12 billion in supply, but across six continents, 59 symbols are available—about 30% of all symbols in the dataset. Local currency stablecoin infrastructure is being built daily. As global markets evolve, data is ready to show how this diversity shapes the stablecoin landscape.

The picture of 170 million stablecoin holders isn’t just a number—it reveals where real economic activity is happening on the blockchain. Trading, liquidity, income generation, cross-border transactions—all driven by stablecoins. And as multi-currency distribution grows, the ecosystem will become even more diverse.