In Q4 2026, the stablecoin market shows high concentration: USDT (Tether, $183B) is non-compliant with MiCA, USDC (Circle, $72.7B) is compliant, USDS/DAI (Sky, $14.3B) is non-compliant, Ethena USDe ($4.1B) is non-compliant, USDG (Paxos, $3.4B) is compliant, PYUSD (Paxos for PayPal, $2.8B) is in progress, and EURC (Circle, <$1B) is compliant.
Total market cap peaked at $322B in May 2026 but contracted slightly due to year-end audit withdrawals. USDT’s expulsion from regulated EEA platforms created a $30-35B liquidity vacuum, with a 20% contraction on regulated platforms but no significant compensating expansion of USDC supply, indicating liquidity rotation rather than net monetary creation.
Despite lower market cap, USDC captured about 70% of adjusted transaction volume in H1 2026 (up from 36% a year earlier), with a record $1,790B in June 2026, 67% from USDC. This is due to higher circulation velocity (4x that of USDT), institutional migration of B2B flows and T+0 settlements, and the regulatory network effect from MiCA compliance.
EURC grew over 800% since MiCA took effect in June 2024, though its market cap remains marginal (<€1B). It captures 42% of the euro stablecoin market and enjoys a 1-2% liquidity premium on compliant European DEXs due to its regulatory scarcity as the only euro stablecoin with AMF authorization via Circle France.
