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Stablecoins entered 2026 larger than ever, but raw size alone doesn’t explain how the market is functioning.
January data shows a system that is expanding quickly, becoming more efficient, and increasingly institutional, while retail usage remains narrow in economic impact.
Looking at supply distribution, lending activity, and transaction behavior together provides a clearer picture of what stablecoins are really being used for today.
Supply Is Growing and Still Highly Concentrated
Total stablecoin supply reached $266.22 billion in January 2026, continuing a multi-year expansion trend.
Despite the proliferation of new chains and Layer 2s, supply remains overwhelmingly concentrated on a small number of blockchains.
Stablecoin Supply by Blockchain as of Jan 31:
- Ethereum: $153.41B
- Tron: $83.47B
- Solana: $12.98B
- Arbitrum: $6.23B
- Base: $4.19B
- Total across all chains: $266.22B
Ethereum and Tron together account for nearly 90% of total stablecoin supply, reinforcing their roles as primary settlement layers.
Ethereum continues to dominate in institutional finance, DeFi, and treasury usage, while Tron remains a high-throughput network for stablecoin payments and transfers.
Layer 2s and newer chains are growing, but from a much smaller base.
Their expansion reflects ecosystem diversification rather than a shift away from the dominant settlement networks.
Lending Is Active, but Not Speculative
Stablecoin lending activity remains robust, but the data suggests discipline rather than leverage-driven excess.
Borrowing appears tied to operational needs such as liquidity management, yield strategies, and short-term capital efficiency rather than aggressive speculation.
Key Lending Metrics:
- Total borrowed: $17.0B
- Total active loans: 365,400
- Average loan size: $47,300
- Top 5 Platforms: Aave, Morpho, Kamino, Maple, Fluid
The relatively modest average loan size indicates broad participation rather than concentration among a handful of large borrowers.
This pattern is consistent with stablecoins being used as working capital by DAOs, trading firms, and businesses managing on-chain liquidity.
Notably, lending growth has not translated into outsized risk exposure, suggesting that stablecoins are increasingly functioning as financial infrastructure rather than speculative instruments.
Transactions Are Massive, but Retail Impact Is Minimal
On-chain activity remains enormous, but headline transaction numbers mask how value actually moves through the system.
January data from Visa and Allium highlights a sharp divide between transaction frequency and economic significance.
Transaction Breakdown:
- Total transaction volume: $10.1T
- Adjusted transaction volume: $1.2T
- Total transaction count: 1.6B
- Adjusted transaction count: 216.7M
Retail-sized transactions dominate activity by count, but not by value.
Retail Transaction Insights:
- Retail transaction volume: $6.8B
- Retail transaction count: 149.1M
- Share of adjusted volume: 0.6%
- Share of adjusted count: 68.8%
In other words, nearly seven out of ten economically relevant transactions are retail-sized, yet they represent less than one percent of value transferred.
Large institutional movements such as treasury rebalancing, exchange flows, and cross-chain liquidity management continue to account for the overwhelming majority of stablecoin value.
Our Takeaway
January 2026 data reinforces a clear narrative: stablecoins are scaling faster as financial infrastructure than as consumer payment tools.
Supply growth remains concentrated, lending is practical rather than speculative, and transaction volume is driven by large players. even as retail usage increases in frequency.
Stablecoins may be everywhere on-chain, but their economic center of gravity remains firmly institutional.
Related Reports
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- How Stablecoin Projects Generate Revenue
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