Stablecoins on Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum and Robinhood Chain

A brief history of stablecoins

A stablecoin is a token whose value is pegged to the dollar or another currency. In twelve years it has grown from an experiment on Bitcoin into a 307.8 bn $ market.

1. 2014 – 2017

   Beginnings

   In 2014 Tether issues the first dollar token on Bitcoin (the Omni layer), backed by dollars in a bank. Exchanges use it instead of dollars because banks are reluctant to open accounts for them. In December 2017 MakerDAO launches DAI, the first decentralized stablecoin backed by cryptocurrency.

2. 2018 – 2019

   A regulated dollar on-chain

   In 2018 Circle and Coinbase launch USDC with monthly reserve attestations, followed by Paxos and Gemini. In 2019 Facebook announces Libra, which for the first time draws the attention of governments and central banks.

3. 2020 – 2021

   DeFi and rapid growth

   Lending, trading and yield on Ethereum need a stable unit. Total supply grows from about 5 bn $ in early 2020 to more than 150 bn $ by the end of 2021.

4. 2022 – 2023

   Crises and trust

   In May 2022 Terra's algorithmic UST collapses and about 18 bn $ vanishes. In 2023 a regulator halts BUSD issuance, and USDC briefly drops to 0.88 $ after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. The market shrinks for the first time.

5. 2024 – today

   Laws and institutions

   The EU has applied MiCA since June 2024, and in July 2025 the US passes the GENIUS Act. PayPal, Ripple, Paxos and tokenized bond funds enter, while Ethena and Sky introduce yield-bearing stablecoins. Supply passes 300 bn $.

A detailed chart of supply over time is in the History section, and depegs are explained in the Peg section.

Network maps

The large circle is the network; the small circles inside it are stablecoins or DeFi protocols. A circle's area corresponds to the amount. Hover over a circle for the exact amount.

How total stablecoin supply grew, 2014 – 2026

From a few million dollars of USDT in 2014 to about 308 bn $ today. The biggest jump came in 2020 and 2021, and the only major decline came in 2022 after the collapse of Terra's UST.

Click a lane or a stablecoin's name for a detailed view with supply in M $, monthly changes and a table. Each stablecoin has its own lane, so the lines don't cross, and all lanes share the same time axis. A lane starts when the stablecoin appeared, and each has its own scale up to its peak amount (shown on the right). For a direct size comparison, choose “All together”. Click a name in the legend to hide or show it.

Monthly market capitalization at month-end according to CoinMarketCap, through September 2026. For stablecoins it is practically equal to supply. The tenth largest, Circle's USYC, is not included because it is a tokenized money market fund that CoinMarketCap does not track. DAI is shown from November 2019, when it replaced the first version (SAI) from December 2017. For DAI, CoinMarketCap has shown almost unchanged supply since 2023, so that part should be taken with caution.

How stablecoins held their peg to 1 $

For each stablecoin, the line shows the month-end price and the vertical tick shows the range from the lowest to the highest price within the month. All charts use the same scale from 0.85 to 1.15 $, so deviations can be compared. Larger depegs are marked with numbers and explained below the chart.

Monthly prices (open, low, high, close) according to CoinMarketCap, through September 2026. The monthly low and high also include brief glitches on individual exchanges and data errors, so the month-end price is a more reliable indicator. Explanations marked as an estimate are not confirmed by a source. Circle's USYC is not included because CoinMarketCap does not track it.

Supply comparison

Ethereum has almost nine times as many stablecoins as Solana. The three L2 networks together hold 10.1 bn $, less than Solana alone.

Networks

The chart shows the stablecoin mix on the network; grey is the remainder of smaller stablecoins. Each stablecoin has the same colour on every network.

DeFi protocols and stablecoin use

Stablecoins play a different main role on each network. On Ethereum it is lending and yield, on Solana trading, on Base and Robinhood Chain borrowing via Morpho, and on Arbitrum lending and derivatives.

TVL (total value locked) per protocol on that network, DefiLlama, 7 Oct 2026. The list shows the largest protocols, not all of them: according to DefiLlama, Robinhood Chain has 307 protocols and the other networks several hundred. Risk curators (Steakhouse, Gauntlet) manage vaults on Morpho, so their TVL overlaps with Morpho's.

Types of services and the current highest stablecoin yields: Stablecoin yields.

Stablecoins on these networks

USDT and USDC together make up 84% of the whole market. The others in the table matter on at least one of the five networks.

Basic concepts

Regulation and risks

For a user in the EU, the most important point is that USDT is not authorized under MiCA, while USDC and EURC are.

• MiCA (EU): stablecoin rules have applied since 30 June 2024. Issuers need a license in the EU, so major exchanges have restricted USDT for users from the EEA. from general knowledge
• GENIUS Act (US): signed on 18 July 2025; introduces a federal license for issuers and 1:1 backing with cash and short-term bonds. from general knowledge
• Issuer risk: in March 2023 USDC briefly lost its peg when Silicon Valley Bank failed.
• Protocol risk: DAI/USDS and USDe depend on collateral value, liquidations and funding rates.
• L2 network risk: Base, Arbitrum and Robinhood Chain have a centralized sequencer; withdrawing to Ethereum through the official bridge takes about 7 days.
• Freezing: Tether, Circle and Paxos can freeze addresses, which protects against fraud but is also a form of centralization.