cryptovibes.com
On April 30, 2021, more USD Coin (USDC) was printed than at any other time in the dollar-backed stablecoin’s existence. On the day, more than $3 billion was minted within one fell swoop.
The new $3 billion USDC influx puts the total supply of the stablecoin at about $14.4 billion, reaching over 25% of Tether’s market cap. New USD Coins are minted wherever a user exchanges their US dollars for the stablecoin, and the latest influx amounted to more than 26% of its market capitalization at the time.
This sudden arrival of $3 billion worth of USDC into the crypto market coincides with a surging altcoin market, coinciding with Bitcoin’s (BTC) descent to its lowest market capitalization dominance in two and a half years.
BTC’s dominance of 47.79% on April 30 was the lowest since August 2018, as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), and others also saw their market cap presence swell extensively since the start of 2021. In early January, BTC’s dominance was perched at more than 70% and has been on a steady drop ever since.
The value of the USD Coin in circulation spiked from $11 billion to nearly $14.4 billion which means that the USD Coin now has a market cap worth around 28% of the biggest stablecoin, Tether (USDT). More than $50 billion worth of USDT is in circulation.
In August last year, USD Coin held a market cap worth of about a tenth that of Tether, which means that traders have discovered a definite use for USDC, maybe at the expense of USDT.
The founder of USD Coin and Coinbase crypto exchange, Circle, recently said that it had tapped New York-based Signature Bank to guarantee the backing of USD Coin with adequate reserves. USD Coin is allegedly backed by a mixture of cash and short-term U.S treasury bonds.