Dollar stablecoins ended October 2026 smaller than they began it, and the two largest coins accounted for most of the shrinkage. This update uses DefiLlama's daily data, checked on November 2, 2026, to show how much supply changed, which coins gained or lost share this year, how tightly the biggest coins held $1 in October, and where the GENIUS Act rulemaking stands. For how a peg works in the first place, see how stablecoins work; for the wider asset class, start at the crypto hub.
How much stablecoin supply is there in November 2026?
DefiLlama counted $299.3 billion of dollar-pegged stablecoins on October 31, 2026, down 2.4% during October and 2.0% since the end of 2025.
That is a pause after a fast year. Supply grew from $204.8 billion on December 31, 2024 to $305.5 billion a year later, a 49.2% rise, and then moved sideways. It set a record of $316.4 billion on May 20, 2026, slid to $298.8 billion by August 11, climbed back to $306.7 billion by September 30 and then fell $7.4 billion in October alone, leaving it 5.4% below the May peak.
Supply here means circulating supply: coins in public hands, which for a dollar coin equals its dollar value at $1. It rises when someone deposits dollars with an issuer to mint new coins and falls when holders hand coins back for redemption, so a monthly change measures net money flowing into or out of stablecoins rather than a price move.
Worked example: Working out October's change
DefiLlama's daily readings for all dollar-pegged stablecoins:
- September 30, 2026: $306.67 billion
- October 31, 2026: $299.28 billion
- Change: $299.28 billion − $306.67 billion = −$7.39 billion
- Percentage: −$7.39 billion ÷ $306.67 billion = −2.41%
- The two largest coins: USDT fell $3.75 billion and USDC $2.68 billion, so ($3.75 + $2.68) ÷ $7.39 ≈ 87% of the drop
The table below is live and refreshes through the day, so its supply and 30-day change will drift away from the month-end figures quoted in this post.
| Stablecoin | Circulating supply | 30-day change | Price | Backing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tether (USDT) | $179.23B | -2.5% | $0.9990 | fiat backed |
| USD Coin (USDC) | $71.41B | -3.7% | $0.9995 | fiat backed |
| Sky Dollar (USDS) | $6.4B | -4.6% | $1.0000 | crypto backed |
| Dai (DAI) | $4.72B | -1.6% | $1.0000 | crypto backed |
| Ethena USDe (USDe) | $4.55B | -6.9% | $0.9984 | crypto backed |
| World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) | $3.89B | -12.4% | $0.9979 | fiat backed |
| Global Dollar (USDG) | $2.85B | -7.7% | $0.9998 | fiat backed |
| PayPal USD (PYUSD) | $2.74B | -3.9% | $0.9999 | fiat backed |
| Ripple USD (RLUSD) | $2.42B | -3.5% | $1.0000 | fiat backed |
The price column shows the latest trade to four decimal places, and the backing column uses DefiLlama's own labels for each design. Our top stablecoins page ranks more coins over a longer history.
Which stablecoins gained or lost market share in 2026?
USDT and USDC still dominate, with 84.2% of supply on October 31, but both shrank this year while several smaller dollar coins grew quickly from low bases.
| Stablecoin | Dec 31, 2025 | Sep 30, 2026 | Oct 31, 2026 | Change in 2026 | Share on Oct 31 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USDT (Tether) | $187.3B | $183.8B | $180.1B | −3.9% | 60.2% |
| USDC (USD Coin) | $76.0B | $74.6B | $71.9B | −5.4% | 24.0% |
| USDS (Sky Dollar) | $6.0B | $6.7B | $6.5B | +7.4% | 2.2% |
| DAI | $4.5B | $4.8B | $4.7B | +4.9% | 1.6% |
| USDe (Ethena USDe) | $6.3B | $4.9B | $4.5B | −28.3% | 1.5% |
| USD1 (World Liberty Financial USD) | $3.4B | $4.4B | $3.9B | +15.9% | 1.3% |
| USDG (Global Dollar) | $1.2B | $3.1B | $2.9B | +140.2% | 1.0% |
| PYUSD (PayPal USD) | $3.5B | $2.7B | $2.8B | −19.8% | 0.9% |
| RLUSD (Ripple USD) | $1.3B | $2.5B | $2.4B | +80.9% | 0.8% |
| All dollar stablecoins | $305.5B | $306.7B | $299.3B | −2.0% | 100% |
Three patterns stand out. Concentration eased a little: the top two held 86.2% of supply on December 31 and 84.2% on October 31, and coins outside the nine largest grew from $16.0 billion to $19.5 billion. Most of the fastest growth came from newer fiat-backed coins, with USDG more than doubling and RLUSD adding $1.1 billion. The steepest decline was USDe's, down $1.8 billion this year and about 70% below its record of $14.8 billion on October 4, 2025.
Share here means share of supply, not of payments or trading. A coin can move far more value each day than it has outstanding, so the ranking shows which coins people hold, not which they use most. By network, DefiLlama put 47% of all dollar stablecoins on Ethereum and 32% on Tron on November 2, 2026, with Solana third at 5%; the USDC vs USDT comparison breaks the two largest coins down by chain.
Did the largest stablecoins hold their $1 peg in October?
Yes. On DefiLlama's daily prices, none of the nine largest dollar stablecoins closed a day more than 0.5% from $1 between October 1 and November 1, 2026.
| Stablecoin | Lowest daily price | Highest daily price | Widest gap from $1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDT | $0.9984 (Oct 29) | $1.0000 | −0.16% |
| USDC | $0.9991 (Oct 29) | $1.0001 | −0.09% |
| USDS | $0.9990 (Oct 7) | $1.0007 | −0.10% |
| DAI | $0.9997 (Oct 29) | $1.0006 | +0.06% |
| USDe | $0.9980 (Oct 29) | $0.9998 | −0.20% |
| USD1 | $0.9976 (Oct 29) | $0.9997 | −0.24% |
| USDG | $0.9997 (Oct 27) | $1.0003 | +0.03% |
| PYUSD | $0.9982 (Oct 29) | $1.0005 | −0.18% |
| RLUSD | $0.9993 (Oct 29) | $1.0005 | −0.07% |
October 29 was the softest day, when seven of the nine posted their lowest reading of the month. Even then the widest gap, USD1's, was under half the 0.5% line that our research uses to count a stablecoin depeg day.
Two cautions apply. These are single daily prices, so a coin can trade further from $1 for a few hours without showing up; USDC did exactly that on March 11, 2023. And a small discount still costs money if you sell into it.
Worked example: What a quarter-cent discount costs on $10,000
Selling 10,000 coins at each coin's lowest October price, before any trading fee:
- USD1 at $0.9976: 10,000 × $0.9976 = $9,976, or $24 below face value
- USDT at $0.9984: 10,000 × $0.9984 = $9,984, or $16 below
- USDC at $0.9991: 10,000 × $0.9991 = $9,991, or $9 below
- Redeeming with the issuer instead pays $1 a coin, less any redemption fee, but generally only to verified customers of that issuer
How does October compare with the depeg record since 2020?
It fits a calm stretch: USDT, USDC and DAI have not had a day more than 0.5% from $1 since 2024, according to our study of DefiLlama prices.
The stablecoin depeg history study runs from December 30, 2020 to November 1, 2026. Across those 2,127 days, USDT was off by more than 0.5% on 48 days and USDC on 53, and the study logged 19 episodes more than 2% from $1, a list that leaves out the most thinly traded coins. USDC's worst daily reading was −3.89% on March 12, 2023, the weekend part of its reserves was stuck at Silicon Valley Bank. The most recent such days were May 8, 2024 for DAI, August 8, 2024 for USDT and November 11, 2024 for USDC.
| Year | USDT | USDC | DAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 2021 | 33.00 | 40.00 | 45.00 |
| 2022 | 4.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 |
| 2023 | 10.00 | 6.00 | 2.00 |
| 2024 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 1.00 |
| 2025 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 2026 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Newer coins have shorter records. RLUSD, tracked from April 2, 2025, went 578 days without a day more than 0.5% from $1, and USD1's three such days all came in May 2025, its first weeks. USDe's most recent was February 1, 2026, when its daily price touched $0.9838.
Days off the peg still turn up among small coins: FRAX and LUSD had one on November 1, 2026, and BUSD and Gemini's GUSD on October 29. The study treats those readings with care, because FRAX, LUSD and GUSD trade too thinly for their prices to say much about reserves and BUSD is being wound down, so drift there reflects thin markets rather than doubts about backing.
What has changed in stablecoin regulation since the GENIUS Act?
The statute is unchanged, but the agencies writing its rules have moved, and the first final rule arrived on October 21, 2026.
The basic timeline: Signed July 18, 2025 (Public Law 119-27); takes effect January 18, 2027 (Congress.gov, as of Nov 1, 2026). Each regulator writes rules for the issuers it will supervise, and their progress varies.
| Agency | Covers | Status on November 2, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| OCC | Nonbank federal issuers, national bank subsidiaries, foreign issuers | Final rule issued October 21 and published October 23; effective January 18, 2027 |
| Federal Reserve | Subsidiaries of state member banks | Two proposals published September 29; comments due November 30 |
| FDIC | Subsidiaries of state nonmember banks | Standards proposed in April; comments closed June 9 |
| NCUA | Subsidiaries of credit unions | Proposals published February 12 and May 18; comment periods closed April 13 and July 17 |
| Treasury | What platforms may offer and sell | Proposal on issuance, offer and sale; comments closed October 19 |
Three details matter most to holders. First, the OCC dropped its proposed presumption that interest paid through affiliates or partners breaks the ban on paying holders yield; the final rule simply restates the statute and leaves such arrangements to case-by-case review, while the Fed and FDIC proposals keep a presumption. Second, the OCC will start taking applications and waiver requests only after the Office of Management and Budget approves its forms, and an issuer needs a substantially complete application pending on January 18, 2027 to seek a waiver of up to 12 months. Third, from July 18, 2028, US platforms may not offer or sell coins from issuers that are neither permitted nor approved foreign issuers, a date Treasury's proposal repeats.
The next federal crypto bill has stalled. The market-structure bill known as the CLARITY Act passed the House 294 to 134 on July 17, 2025, but a Senate cloture vote to take it up failed 49 to 50 on September 15, 2026; it had not become law as of November 2, 2026. The full rulebook, from reserve rules to bankruptcy priority, is in our GENIUS Act guide, and the other agencies' roles are in crypto regulation in the US.
What do these numbers mean for people holding or sending stablecoins?
Mostly that the plumbing held: supply shrank in an orderly way, prices stayed within a quarter cent of $1, and both large issuers reported more assets than coins.
The latest reports date from the end of September. Circle reported $73.96 billion of reserves against 73.88 billion USDC in circulation on September 30, 2026, and Tether's assurance report showed $191.45 billion of assets against $183.50 billion of liabilities on September 30, 2026, an excess of $7.95 billion. Those are point-in-time checks, and the cushions differ in size and in what assets they rest on, which the USDC vs USDT comparison unpacks.
- A falling supply is not an alarm by itself. It means redemptions outpaced new issuance. The pattern worth watching is a sharp drop together with a price stuck below $1, which is what a run looks like.
- Network choice still drives cost. With most supply on Ethereum and Tron, fees and the networks a recipient supports decide the cheapest route, as sending money with stablecoins shows.
- Holding earns nothing from the issuer. Any return comes from a platform or lender, with its own risks, which stablecoin yield vs bank interest compares with insured savings.
What can monthly stablecoin data miss?
A monthly snapshot hides intraday swings, counting differences between sources and the risks that never show in a price until they suddenly do.
- Intraday moves. One price a day misses short dips, so the worst moment of a bad day is usually lower than the figures above.
- Counting. DefiLlama totals tokens across every network it tracks, so its numbers differ from issuers' own: it showed $74.58 billion of USDC on September 30, 2026, against the 73.88 billion in Circle's report for that date.
- What counts as a stablecoin. DefiLlama's dollar list mixes fiat-backed payment coins with crypto-backed designs and even BlackRock's tokenized BUIDL fund, so not every token in the total would qualify under the GENIUS Act.
- Risks a price cannot show. Reserves can shrink through a bank or custody failure, issuers can freeze coins under lawful orders, and a platform holding coins for you can halt withdrawals. Nothing here is insured by the FDIC or SIPC, and the crypto you might buy with stablecoins can lose most or all of its value.
Past stability is no promise of future stability. The record shows long calm stretches broken by sudden stress, which is why issuers' monthly reports and proof of reserves claims deserve a closer read than the headline supply figure.