From Tether to the Trump-backed USD1: the 7 fastest moving stablecoins of 2025

This was a defining year for stablecoins, with the signing of the GENIUS Act, a high-flying IPO for Circle, and a handful of tokens that outpaced the rest.

Since the beginning of January, the total supply of US dollar-denominated stablecoins has increased by more than $100 billion to a total of $314 billion. But that doesn’t mean all boats have risen at the same pace.

To measure the performance of stablecoins, Declutter calculated speed using historical data from crypto price aggregator CoinGecko from January through December 15. Velocity divides the total volume by the average supply, resulting in a calculation of how often each coin has changed hands on average.

As Timothy Massad, former chairman of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, explained Decluttermeasuring speed beats rankings that rely only on total supply.

“Stablecoins can be very useful without a large market cap,” he said. “In other words, it’s about speed and transaction usage, and they can circulate very quickly even if the outstanding amount is not that large.”

Tether (USDT)

Tether tops the list with a rate of 166 because it has long been a workhorse for global crypto trading. It cannot claim the crown as the very first stablecoin – which belongs to BitUSD. But it was launched the same year, in 2014, and became the first widely used one.

According to data from CoinGecko, Tether has a market capitalization of $186 billion, having risen 35% since the beginning of the year. According to data from DeFi Llama, the majority of Tether tokens are traded on Ethereum (46.3%) and Tron (41.4%).

Tether started the year with a move to Bitcoin-friendly El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele declared BTC legal tender in 2021. However, there have been some bumps. In March, Binance said it would drop USDT for European Union users to remain compliant with MiCA regulations, which require stablecoin issuers to be licensed.

But that hasn’t stopped the company from making a hefty profit. So far in 2025, Tether has posted a profit of $10 billion in the first three quarters of the year, the company said in October.

Ripple USD (RLUSD)

Ripple Labs’ stablecoin, RLUSD, took the second spot with a rate of 71. That means on average, each RLUSD token has changed hands 71 ​​times since the start of the year.

In most stablecoin setups, Circle’s USDC would take this spot because its market cap of $78 billion exceeds that of RLUSD’s $1.3 billion. But as Massad noted, the performance of stablecoins has more to do with being able to move money efficiently than with their total supply.

Ripple was provisionally approved for a national bank charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Coin, or OCC, in December. “This is a huge step forward – first for RLUSD – and sets the highest standard for stablecoin compliance with both federal (OCC) and state (NYDFS) oversight,” Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote on X.

Ripple Senior Vice President of Stablecoins Jack McDonald has often pointed out that RLUSD is specifically designed for institutional use.

In early December, Ripple received the green light from the Singapore Monetary Authority, or MAS, to expand XRP and RLUSD payments in Singapore. And earlier this year, RLUSD was integrated into Securitize’s tokenization platform. That means it is one of the assets that investors can exchange for tokenized money market funds.

Circle (USDC)

USDC saw its turnover ratio reach 56 by 2025, while its market capitalization had risen 78% to $78.4 billion as of December 15.

Perhaps more than any of its competitors, Circle benefited greatly from the passage of the GENIUS Act. The operating model already resembled the federally regulated framework that has now become U.S. law. That’s given Circle an edge in compliance and investor confidence – and investors have taken note.

CRCL was so popular with investors upon its debut that the NYSE halted trading three times. Since then, Circle has reported third-quarter revenue of $740 million, up 66% year over year. Circle has also rolled out the testnet for Arc, the layer 1 blockchain, which counts BlackRock, Visa and Amazon Web Services as early participants.

Circle was also one of several stablecoin issuers – including Ripple, Paxos and BitGo – to receive preliminary approval for their national banking charter and are looking to expand into broader financial services.

USD1 (USD1)

USD1 is an outlier because it was launched in April and therefore does not have nearly a full year of data. But that didn’t stop him from landing right next to the podium at a speed of 39.

Issued by World Liberty Financial – the cryptocurrency-focused company co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and partners – USD1 was designed from the ground up as a highly liquid transactional stablecoin. According to data from CoinGecko, the token reached a market capitalization of $1 billion in April, less than a month after its launch.

Some very optimistic predictions have been made about its growth. Blockstreet’s Kyle Klemmer told us Declutter he believes USD1 will be the world’s dominant stablecoin, beating USDT and USDC before President Donald Trump’s second term ends in 2029.

The project relies heavily on retail distribution and promotional partnerships, including integrations with several US-based crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase and FalconX, and it is making a bid to become “Solana’s go-to stablecoin” by partnering with meme coin platform Bonk and decentralized exchange Raydium.

PayPal USD (PYUSD)

PayPal USD’s turnover rate of 18 puts it fifth on this list.

Its 2023 debut caused a stir as it marked the first time an established payments platform bid to issue a stablecoin – years before a regulatory framework existed in the US.

For most of this year, PYUSD growth has been moving at a modest pace. The market cap peaked above $1 billion in June and then gained a foothold in September. Since then, it has nearly tripled to $3.8 billion as of December 15.

PayPal is partnering with LayerZero to expand the token’s presence to nine new blockchains, including Tron, Abstract, Aptos and Avalanche. But there has also been some controversy.

In October, observers noted that PYUSD issuer Paxos minted and then promptly burned $300 trillion worth of tokens. It’s an impossibly large number of tokens, considering it represents more than twice the world’s GDP.

“This was an internal technical error. There was no security breach,” the company wrote on X. “Customers’ funds are safe. We have addressed the root cause.”

USDe (USDe)

Ethena Labs’ USDe showed a rate of 11 in 2025, with its market cap showing a modest 11% gain, from $5.8 billion in January to $6.5 billion on December 15.

But that trajectory ignores the fact that the market cap rose to nearly $15 billion before the sudden crash in early October.

USDe is the only stablecoin on this list that is not backed by fiat currency: it is backed by a delta-neutral strategy involving Ethereum stakes and perpetual futures hedges. But the reliance on derivatives means that times of high volatility and shifts in sentiment can cause large swings in market capitalization.

Even with a less simple structure, the token’s proponents include billionaire Arthur Hayes. But not all regulators are convinced. Ethena Labs withdrew from the German market in April amid increasing scrutiny of its “serious compliance deficiencies.”

USDS (USDS)

Sky’s USDS showed an extremely low rate of 1 in 2025 – and that’s by design. To avoid confusion, Sky is a rebrand of DeFi OG MakerDAO and USDS is a rebrand of its DAI stablecoin.

Unlike USDT or USDC, which function as transactional stablecoins, most USDS tokens are locked in Maker vaults or savings contracts as collateral for DeFi lending rather than circulating. Its role in DeFi is closer to a yield-bearing savings instrument than digital cash, which is why it is naturally converted much less frequently.

For example, the Sky Protocol currently offers a 4% rewards rate (paid in SKY tokens) to users who hold USDS. As of 2025, USDS has seen its market capitalization grow from $5.2 billion at the start of the year to $9.8 billion, an increase of 85% in just under twelve months.