Dune data shows USDT dominates payments while USDC drives

Dune’s 2026 stablecoin data points to a functional split: USDT is the primary onchain payments rail, while USDC is the high-throughput DeFi and trading rail on Base and Ethereum. The numbers argue the market is moving from a head-to-head “USDT vs. USDC” frame toward chain-specific liquidity lanes that matter for routing and execution.

Key Takeaways

USDT settled about $95 billion in identified commerce payments in 1H 2026, versus about $14 billion for USDC.
Business-to-business settlement was heavily concentrated in USDT, which represented roughly 92% of $48 billion in B2B payment volume in 1H 2026.
June 2026 transfer activity clustered in USDC on Base (about $2.6 trillion) and USDC on Ethereum (about $1.6 trillion).
USDC on Base posted daily velocity of about 20x circulating supply in June 2026, signaling unusually high turnover relative to float.

Dune’s 2026 Stablecoin Map Shows Two Different Rails

Dune’s Digital Asset Brief frames the top two stablecoins less as substitutes and more as specialized instruments that clear different kinds of flow. In the first half of 2026, USDT led “identified commerce payments” by a wide margin, while USDC dominated transfer throughput on the chains most associated with DeFi and trading activity.

That split matters because stablecoin liquidity is not evenly distributed. USDT and USDC together represent roughly 83% of the stablecoin sector’s approximately $315 billion market capitalization, and Dune tracked more than 200 stablecoin tokens across multiple blockchains. When the market is that concentrated, shifts in where each coin is used can change venue-level liquidity conditions even if the aggregate stablecoin supply looks stable.

In 1H 2026, USDT settled about $95 billion in identified commerce payments, compared with about $14 billion for USDC. The same period showed an even sharper skew in business-to-business settlement. USDT accounted for roughly 92% of the $48 billion in B2B payment volume.

Chain distribution adds texture to the payments narrative. USDT supply is split almost evenly between Tron and Ethereum. On Tron, described as USDT’s largest network, around 93% of USDT supply is held in ordinary wallets rather than on exchanges. That wallet-heavy distribution is consistent with end-user payment and remittance behavior, where balances sit off-exchange and move in smaller, repeated transfers.

Methodology is the main caveat. The packet does not include Dune’s exact filters for “identified commerce payments” or B2B classification, so traders should treat the categories as directional rather than definitive.

DeFi and Trading Flows: USDC’s Base/Ethereum Transfer Volume and Velocity

USDC’s footprint looks different. In June 2026, USDC on Base processed roughly $2.6 trillion in transfer volume, the highest token-chain pair in the dataset. USDC on Ethereum processed another roughly $1.6 trillion in the same month.

For traders, the more actionable metric is velocity. Stablecoin velocity measures how often circulating supply changes hands over a period, typically expressed as transfer volume relative to supply. USDC on Base recorded daily velocity of about 20 times its circulating supply in June 2026, a level that implies rapid turnover and aligns with heavy DeFi and trading usage on that chain.

A “token-chain pair” is the right unit of analysis here. USDC on Base and USDC on Ethereum behave like distinct liquidity pools with different counterparties, fee regimes, and routing incentives, even if the ticker is the same.

Regulatory Backdrop: GENIUS Is Live, CLARITY’s Senate Clock Is Running

US policy remains a headline variable for stablecoin rails. The GENIUS Act was signed into law in 2025, creating the first US federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and potentially widening the set of issuers over time.

The next near-term catalyst is broader market structure. The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May and could receive a full Senate vote before the August recess. Galaxy trimmed its odds of passage before the break to 50%, citing time constraints.

Beyond Washington, the market signal to monitor is whether June’s chain split persists. Monthly follow-through in USDC transfer volume on Base versus Ethereum after the roughly $2.6 trillion and $1.6 trillion prints will indicate whether this is structural flow or a one-month spike. On the USDT side, any shift in Tron distribution away from the current pattern, with about 93% held in ordinary wallets rather than exchanges, would hint at changing usage.

Trading the Stablecoin Split as a Liquidity Signal, Not a Popularity Contest

I treat this dataset as a routing map, not a brand scoreboard. The threshold that matters is whether the same specialization repeats month after month: USDT continuing to clear commerce and B2B settlement while USDC continues to post the highest transfer throughput and velocity on Base and Ethereum.

If USDC’s Base velocity stays anywhere near the June pace, the setup starts to look structural rather than narrative-driven because it implies persistent turnover relative to float. If, instead, Base volume mean-reverts and Tron-held USDT starts migrating onto exchanges, the “two rails” story weakens and starts to look more like a sentiment catalyst than a fundamental shift in where liquidity actually lives.

Sources

Dune