Stablecoin issuances skyrocketed this quarter. But why?

In my last column, I touched on how, prior to the recent DeFi trend over the past few months, two of the most popular narratives surrounding digital assets were focused on stablecoins and staking. While most of the recent attention in the industry has centered on the DeFi segment, the supply of stablecoins has been quietly increasing quite significantly, recently surpassing over $20 billion. 

The supply of stablecoins has increased by 28% over the past month alone — 63% during the past two months — and when scaled out to the past six months, the supply has risen roughly 170%.