USD Coin (USDC), the second-largest stablecoin, has experienced a decline in its circulating supply, falling below 25 billion for the first time since 2021. This decrease in supply is a result of Circle, the issuer of USDC, curbing minting services for retail users. Circle stated that they have discontinued their customer app and are now offboarding individual consumer accounts. However, this change does not affect business or institutional accounts with Circle. Despite this development, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire emphasized that there is nothing new, as Circle has been focused on serving institutions for years and has retail partnerships worldwide. Coinbase, a strategic partner of Circle, offers retail access to USDC without fees and maintains a 1:1 ratio.The decline in USDC’s supply has been a negative impact, with its supply currently standing at 24.7 billion, the lowest level since 2021. Over the past three days, USDC’s supply has decreased by more than 300 million. This downward trend began earlier in the year when USDC faced difficulties due to its exposure to the U.S. banking crisis. It was revealed that Circle held some of its USDC reserves at Silicon Valley Bank, which later failed. As a result, USDC briefly depegged to as low as $0.87 before recovering. Despite improving market conditions, the circulation of USDC has continued to decline.In contrast, Tether’s USDT appears to be benefiting from USDC’s struggles, with its supply approaching 85 billion. Tether recently reached an all-time high market capitalization of $84 billion and continues to rise. The company’s latest attestation report shows that its assets exceed liabilities by approximately $3 billion.While USDC’s supply is declining, Circle has plans to increase its availability and expand into new blockchains. In the past year, USDC has been deployed on Ethereum layer2 networks such as Optimism and Base, making it available on 11 blockchains, including Solana, Arbitrum, Polygon PoS, Tron, and Polkadot.Overall, the decline in USDC’s circulating supply and the rise of Tether’s USDT highlight the competitive landscape of stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market.

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Information	Details
Geography	North America
Countries	🇺🇸
Sentiment	neutral
Relevance Score	1
People	Jeremy Allaire
Companies	Coinbase, Optimism, Circle, Silicon Valley Bank, Tether
Currencies	Tether, USDC
Securities	None