Stablecoin supply drops $14.2 billion in largest contraction since 2022 bear market

Crypto's pool of stablecoins is shrinking at its fastest pace in more than four years, alongside a stalled market recovery

A Wednesday report from Glassnode found that the supply of major stablecoins fell by $14.2 billion over the past 30 days, the biggest drop since the 2022 crypto bear market. For comparison, the 30-day stablecoin supply decline nearly reached $30 billion in June 2022, roughly five months before bitcoin reached its bear market low of $15,500 that November.

The total stablecoin supply now sits just below $280 billion, levels not seen since September 2025.

Total Stablecoin Supply Daily. Source: The Block/DefiLlama.

"A shrinking supply means holders are redeeming stablecoins for dollars and taking that cash out of the market, which leaves less fuel for a rally," Glassnode wrote.

A separate report from CryptoQuant on Tuesday focused on the deteriorating supply of Tether's USDT, the long-time stablecoin market leader. Its market capitalization fell $6.6 billion over the 60 days through Nov. 7, more than twice the $3.2 billion drop over a similar period in December 2022 following the collapse of the FTX exchange.

USDT currently accounts for roughly 62.8% of stablecoin supply, followed by Circle's USDC at 25.1%, according to The Block's data.

Stablecoin (USDT and USDC) market share. Source: The Block.

Gold-backed tokens have held steady by comparison, with a combined market cap of $5.61 billion. That remains below February's $6.31 billion peak when gold was at an all-time high of around $5,350 per troy ounce.

Glassnode said that a return to stablecoin supply growth would be the "first sign that new money is coming in." Meanwhile, CryptoQuant said a local bitcoin bottom could form before USDT supply flips back to positive territory.