Stablecoin News: Trump endorsement pushes USD1 into the top five, who will dominate the stablecoin arena in 2025?

2025 is a milestone year in the stablecoin industry. Driven by macroeconomic factors such as the passage of the GENIUS Act and the successful IPO of Circle, the total supply of global USD stablecoins surged by over $100 billion, reaching $314 billion. However, market growth is not evenly distributed. According to the key metric of “circulation velocity,” a fierce reshuffle is underway. USDT leads with a circulation velocity of 166, Ripple’s RLUSD emerges as a dark horse in second place, and USD1, endorsed by the Trump family, broke into the top five just months after launch, demonstrating remarkable market penetration and topicality. This ranking not only reveals trading activity levels but also reflects the deeper trend of stablecoins evolving toward compliance, differentiation, and politicization.

Decoding “Circulation Velocity”: Why It’s the New Benchmark for Stablecoin Strength

When discussing stablecoins, market capitalization and supply were once the primary measures of success. However, market observers in 2025 are turning to a more nuanced indicator—circulation velocity. This concept is straightforward: it is calculated by dividing total transaction volume by average supply, intuitively reflecting how frequently each stablecoin changes hands in the market. As former CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad explained: “Stablecoins can be very useful even if their market cap isn’t huge… The real key is circulation velocity and use cases. Even with a small stock, they can circulate quickly.”

This metric is important because it strips away the halo of mere size, directly pointing to the core utility of stablecoins: efficiency as a medium of exchange. A high-velocity stablecoin indicates widespread use in daily transactions, cross-border payments, on-exchange asset conversions, or liquidity provision in DeFi protocols—acting as the “blood” of the ecosystem. Conversely, a high market cap with low circulation velocity may mean the stablecoin is largely stored as a store of value or locked in complex financial strategies, with weaker actual payment and settlement functions. Therefore, this circulation velocity ranking provides a penetrating perspective on the true competitive landscape behind stablecoin news.

The overall market size of $314 billion in 2025 offers a broad stage for this efficiency race. From the start of the year to mid-December, over $100 billion in new funds flowed in, driven by the clarity of regulation from the GENIUS Act, accelerated entry of traditional financial institutions, and ongoing expansion of cryptocurrency use cases. Yet, as the data shows, not all projects benefit equally. The circulation velocity leaderboard reveals a market increasingly polarized: leading projects continue to attract capital and enhance efficiency through network effects and strategic positioning, while newcomers must rely on unique positioning and strong resources to quickly carve out their niche amid fierce competition.

Top Analysis: USDT’s Infrastructure Dominance and RLUSD’s Compliance Surge

Unquestionably, USDT maintains the top spot with a circulation velocity of 166, reaffirming its dominance as the “settlement layer infrastructure” of the crypto world. Since its launch in 2014, USDT has become the default bridge for asset transfers between exchanges worldwide. Data shows its market cap has grown 35% year-to-date to an astonishing $186 billion. About 46.3% of USDT operates on Ethereum, and 41.4% on Tron, aligning with core needs for centralized exchange deposits/withdrawals and fast, low-cost transfers. Despite temporary delistings on some platforms under Europe’s MiCA regulation, Tether’s massive scale and deep liquidity moat allowed it to generate $10 billion in profit in the first three quarters of 2025, demonstrating resilience.

The biggest dark horse of the year is Ripple USD (RLUSD), which with a circulation velocity of 71, ranks second—a landmark event. Its market cap ($1.3 billion) is far below USDC’s $78.4 billion, yet it surpasses USDC thanks to a higher turnover rate, exemplifying the new logic of “efficiency over scale.” RLUSD’s success is no accident; its core strategy targets institutional compliance. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse emphasized that RLUSD aims to set “the highest standards for stablecoin compliance.” In December 2025, Ripple received temporary approval for a national bank charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and its stablecoin operations gained expansion licenses from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. These key developments, along with early integrations with platforms like Securitize for asset tokenization, have made RLUSD a favored on/off-ramp tool for regulators, achieving extremely high capital turnover efficiency.

2025 Key Data Panorama of Seven High Circulation Velocity Stablecoins

USDT

• Circulation Velocity: 166
• Market Cap Change Year-to-Date: +35%, reaching $186 billion
• Core Strategy: Consolidate as the global settlement infrastructure, expand into fiat-friendly regions (e.g., El Salvador).
• Main Challenges: Navigating evolving compliance requirements in regions like the EU.

Ripple USD

• Circulation Velocity: 71
• Market Cap Change Year-to-Date: $1.3 billion
• Core Strategy: Push for institutional compliance, obtain national banking licenses, integrate asset tokenization platforms.
• Main Challenges: Expanding market share and ecosystem applications in a compliance market dominated by USDC.

Circle

• Circulation Velocity: 56
• Market Cap Change Year-to-Date: +78%, reaching $78.4 billion
• Core Strategy: Leverage early compliance advantages from the GENIUS Act, promote enterprise payments and Layer 1 blockchain Arc ecosystem.
• Main Challenges: Catching up with USDT in retail transaction circulation efficiency, balancing regulation and innovation.

USD1

• Circulation Velocity: 39
• Market Cap Change Year-to-Date: Rapidly surpassed $1 billion after launch
• Core Strategy: Capitalize on Trump’s political brand, target retail markets and specific public chain ecosystems (e.g., Solana).
• Main Challenges: Turning short-term topical hype into long-term, sustainable ecosystem adoption and trust.

PayPal USD

• Circulation Velocity: 18
• Market Cap Change Year-to-Date: Nearly tripled to $3.8 billion
• Core Strategy: Leverage PayPal’s large user base, expand across multiple chains (e.g., Tron, Avalanche) to improve accessibility.
• Main Challenges: Break into payment scenarios and increase usage in broader crypto trading and DeFi.

USDe

• Circulation Velocity: 11
• Market Cap Change Year-to-Date: From $5.8 billion to $6.5 billion (peaked near $15 billion)
• Core Strategy: Offer a “defi-ized” stablecoin alternative based on crypto collateralization (Delta-neutral strategy) with perpetual contracts.
• Main Challenges: Address inherent complexity of derivatives strategies and extreme market volatility, meet global regulatory standards.

USDS

• Circulation Velocity: 1
• Market Cap Change Year-to-Date: +85%, reaching $9.8 billion
• Core Strategy: Focus on DeFi-native value storage and yield assets, not as a high-frequency payment medium.
• Main Challenges: Maintaining unique value and appeal in an increasingly competitive yield-bearing stablecoin market.

New Entrants and Shifts: USD1’s Political Aura and USDe’s Algorithmic Gamble

The most dramatic chapter in stablecoin news in 2025 is undoubtedly written by USD1. Launched by World Liberty Financial, co-founded by Donald Trump, this stablecoin broke $1 billion in market cap in less than a month after its April debut, and soared into the top five with a circulation velocity of 39. Its success heavily leveraged Trump’s political influence and brand power, through promotional collaborations with mainstream U.S. exchanges and within Solana’s ecosystem (e.g., Bonk, Raydium). Analysts boldly predict that before the end of Trump’s potential second term (2029), USD1 could challenge the dominance of USDT and USDC. Whether this prophecy materializes or not, USD1’s rise signals an unprecedented link between stablecoins, geopolitics, and public sentiment.

Meanwhile, another special presence on the leaderboard is Ethena Labs’ USDe. As the only stablecoin in the top ten not directly pegged to fiat, USDe maintains price stability through a “Delta-neutral” strategy involving Ethereum staking and perpetual contract hedging. This design allows it to capture significant gains in bull markets, with market cap approaching $15 billion before the October flash crash. However, its circulation velocity of 11 and current market cap of $6.5 billion expose the inherent challenges of algorithmic stablecoins: their complexity and reliance on derivatives make them more vulnerable during market turbulence and harder to gain full trust from traditional institutions and regulators seeking absolute certainty. Its inclusion reflects ongoing market exploration of high-yield, decentralized stablecoin alternatives, though the path remains fraught with difficulties.

The lowest-ranked stablecoin, with a circulation velocity of just 1, is USDS, issued by Sky Protocol, a rebranded version of the veteran DeFi protocol MakerDAO. Its extremely low circulation velocity is not a failure but a product positioning choice. USDS (formerly DAI) primarily functions as collateral and yield-generating assets within DeFi, locked in lending vaults or savings protocols, rather than for high-frequency trading. Its value proposition emphasizes security, decentralization, and yield, not payment speed. Its market cap grew 85% year-to-date to $9.8 billion, illustrating that beyond the efficiency race, niche markets serving specific DeFi-native needs also hold significant potential.

Future Trends: Compliance Race, Ecosystem Binding, and Functional Specialization

Analyzing these seven high-velocity stablecoins reveals three core trends shaping the 2025 stablecoin landscape.

First is “Compliance as a Core Competency.” The strong performance of RLUSD and USDC, along with active efforts by Circle, Ripple, Paxos, and others to obtain national bank licenses, point to this direction. With the GENIUS Act establishing a federal framework for the U.S. market, compliance is no longer optional but essential for survival and growth. Projects that proactively meet or exceed regulatory requirements are favored by institutional capital, boosting their capital efficiency. Future competition will revolve around legal frameworks, licensing completeness, and transparency.

Second is deep integration with specific ecosystems or use cases. USDT is tied to the global exchange network; RLUSD targets institutional and asset tokenization markets; USD1 aims to deeply connect with the Solana ecosystem and U.S. retail users; PUSD leverages PayPal’s vast payment network. The era of “one stablecoin to rule them all” is fading. Future winners are likely those that establish irreplaceable advantages in several core verticals. Stablecoin news will shift focus from total supply growth to penetration and ecosystem contribution within niche markets.

Third is highly differentiated functionality. The market has clearly segmented into “high-speed trading stablecoins” like USDT and USD1, “DeFi yield/staking stablecoins” like USDS, and “algorithmic yield stablecoins” like USDe. This segmentation means investors and users will choose stablecoins based on their specific needs—fast transfers, yield earning, DeFi participation, etc. Success will be judged primarily by how well a stablecoin performs within its intended functional track.

For industry participants, this leaderboard is both a report card and a navigation map. It shows that in the trillion-dollar stablecoin market, mere scale replication is no longer enough. Only by aligning clear regulatory pathways, precise ecosystem positioning, and unique product value can one secure a foothold in the next phase of efficiency-driven competition. The stablecoin story has moved from the “Can it stay stable?” era of 1.0 to the “Why and for whom to use?” era of 2.0.