Circle’s USDC adds $8B in market cap over the past year

A year ago, USDC had a market cap problem. Not a crisis, exactly, but a hangover from the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse that had spooked the market and handed Tether a comfortable lead. Fast forward to August 2026, and Circle’s stablecoin has quietly added roughly $8 billion in market cap over the past twelve months, bringing its total to approximately $72 billion.

The numbers behind the comeback

USDC’s market cap reached $75.12 billion in January 2026, representing 73% year-on-year growth. For context, Tether’s USDT grew 36% over the same period.

The $7.9 billion increase over the past year lands USDC at around $72 billion in circulating supply as of early August 2026. Circle has now set its sights considerably higher, targeting a USDC supply of $150 billion in the second half of 2026, up from $112 billion earlier this year.

USDC is now natively supported on more than 35 blockchain networks as of late June 2026. Its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, known as CCTP, allows USDC to move between chains without the liquidity fragmentation that plagues most bridged assets. Instead of locking tokens on one chain and minting synthetic copies on another, CCTP burns USDC on the source chain and natively mints it on the destination.

The regulatory tailwind Circle just captured

On July 31, 2026, Circle received a limited-purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services for its Circle New York Trust entity. A limited-purpose trust designation gives Circle formal authority to offer fiduciary and custody services.

What this means for the stablecoin market

USDC’s 73% growth versus USDT’s 36% over the same year suggests something is shifting at the margin. USDC’s reserves, primarily cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries, are regularly attested and publicly disclosed.

USDC is natively supported across 35-plus blockchains and Circle’s $150 billion supply target, up from $112 billion earlier this year, carries implications for the broader market. The NYDFS trust charter opens doors for custody services and fiduciary capabilities, allowing Circle to compete for institutional clients seeking a regulated bridge to on-chain markets.