coindesk.com
The stablecoin market posted its biggest retreat in years in June, a sign that onchain liquidity has dwindled as crypto markets continued to consolidate near 2026 lows.
Last month saw a $7.7 billion decline in stablecoin market capitalization, the largest dollar amount since May 2022, when blockchain protocol Terra-Luna collapsed, kickstarting a brutal bear market often dubbed as crypto winter, CoinDesk Data reported.
Zooming out, the total value of stablecoins in circulation has fallen ny roughly roughly $10 billion since its May peak, according to data from RWA.xyz. It's about a 3% drop on a percentage basis, the largest such downtrend since 2023, but well shy of 2022's 26% collapse.
The decline has been driven mainly by the two dominant issuers. Tether's USDT, the largest stablecoin, has seen its market capitalization fall to roughly $184 billion from $190 billion in May, a decline of about $6 billion. Circle's USDC has dropped to around $73 billion from its March 2026 peak of just shy of $80 billion, shedding another $7 billion.
The setback is notable because it runs counter to the bullish outlooks of Wall Street banks on stablecoin growth. Last year, global bank Citi revised its stablecoin growth forecast for 2030 to $1.9 trillion in its base case and $4 trillion in a bull case, up from $1.6 trillion and $3.7 trillion, respectively. Standard Chartered projected a $2 trillion market by 2028.
The decline also carries broader relevance for the crypto market. Major stablecoins are widely used as the quote currency for crypto trading and increasingly for payments and settlement, making changes in their supply a closely watched gauge of liquidity flowing into or out of digital assets.
Nothing like the 2022 crypto winter
The pullback may seem dramatic, but it's modest by historical standards.
A similar pullback occurred between December 2025 and February 2026, when stablecoin supply fell by roughly $9 billion before bouncing to a new record. That coincided with a major correction in cryptocurrencies, with bitcoin plunging from around $95,000 to $60,000.
Altogether, the stablecoin market has largely stalled around $300 billion since October (coinciding with bitcoin hitting its $126,000 record) after more than doubling in size in two years.
The 2022 bear market, marked by major implosions like crypto exchange FTX and lenders Celsius, BlockFi and Genesis, was far more severe for stablecoins.