Stablecoin Supply Plummets After Depegging Event: $7.4B Dollar-Pegged Tokens Withdrawn From Circulation

During the past 11 days, over 7 billion USDC stablecoins have been withdrawn from circulation, with most of the redemptions occurring following the depegging event of USDC on March 11, 2023. Furthermore, since March 6, a total of 439.48 million BUSD stablecoins have been redeemed.

Stablecoin Depegging Event Triggers Billions in Redemptions

The stablecoin landscape has undergone significant changes this month after a stablecoin depegging event took place on March 11. During this time, USDC dropped to a low of $0.877 per coin, and half a dozen other stablecoins also depegged from the U.S. dollar value on the same day. However, USDC and the other stablecoins have since been re-pegged, and Circle’s stablecoin is trading at $1 on various centralized trading platforms on Friday. On March 6, approximately 43.89 billion USDC were in circulation, and as of 11 days later, 7,089,389,744 USDC have been redeemed.

As of March 17, 2023, metrics show that over the past 30 days, the number of USDC in circulation has decreased by 10.2%. According to coingecko.com’s stablecoin market data, there are currently approximately 36.80 billion USDC stablecoins in circulation. During the depegging event, USDC had double the volume recorded today, which is $6,328,716,602 in global USDC trade volume over the past 24 hours. Over the past day, BUSD’s 24-hour trade volume surpassed USDC, which has the third-largest stablecoin trade volume.

On Friday afternoon (ET), data showed that BUSD had a 24-hour global trade volume of $8,289,546,285 across various exchanges. An archive.org snapshot from 11 days ago, on March 6, indicates that 439,484,014 BUSD had been redeemed. At that time, approximately 8,689,408,012 BUSD were in circulation, while today the number has dropped to 8,249,923,998. According to Nansen’s proof-of-reserve data, Binance holds 7.42 billion BUSD. Coingecko.com’s stablecoin market data shows that over the past 30 days, the number of BUSD in circulation has decreased by 46.3%.

While 7.528 billion USDC and BUSD have been removed from the stablecoin economy, tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, has seen an 8.7% increase in the number of coins in circulation. Tether now has an overall market valuation of approximately $75.29 billion, with 75.17 billion USDT in circulation. Furthermore, on Friday, tether’s $80.38 billion in global trade volume outshined every other coin in the entire crypto economy in terms of 24-hour settled trades. BUSD and USDC hold the second and third-largest stablecoin volumes, respectively.

What do you think the future holds for stablecoins after the recent depegging event? Will they regain their stability, or will their value continue to fluctuate? Share your thoughts in the comments below.