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.

"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.

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.