The total monthly volume for stablecoins on the Ethereum blockchain reached a new all-time high of $2.82 trillion in October. This marked a 45% monthly growth and surpassed the previous record of $1.94 trillion set in September, as traders increasingly turned to stablecoins for yield and liquidity management during a broader crypto market slowdown.
Key Stablecoin Performance
- USDC Leads: Circle's USDC took the lead in volume with $1.62 trillion for the month.
- USDT Follows: Tether's USDT ranked second with $895.5 billion in volume.
- DAI Trails: MakerDAO's DAI stablecoin ranked third but saw its volume decline to $136 billion, down from $141.2 billion in September.
Market Dynamics and Trader Behavior
The surge in stablecoin activity occurred while major cryptocurrencies were retreating, with Bitcoin down 11.5% and Ethereum down 16.4% over the past month. Analysts point to several factors:
- Yield Seeking: The massive volume growth is attributed to traders seeking yield opportunities, particularly around "liquid yield tokens," following major events like the Circle IPO and the passage of the Genius Act.
- Liquidity Staging: Kronos Research CIO Vincent Liu suggested the volume surge indicates traders were actively managing capital to prepare for buying price dips ("staging capital to rotate between emerging narratives") and using stablecoins as both a hedge and a yield-generating tool.
- Non-Speculative Use: The data also suggests a maturing crypto market, with stablecoin activity growing for non-speculative purposes like payments and cross-border transactions.
The high volume positioned stablecoin issuers (primarily Tether and Circle) as the dominant revenue generators among all crypto protocols.
November 2025, Cryptoniteuae