Circle CEO Says Just 30% of USDC Adoption Occurs in US

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that a whopping 70% of USDC adoption comes from outside the United States.

“Despite the hype that we're all about the US, we estimate that 70% of USDC adoption is non-US,” he tweeted, adding that “some of the fastest growing areas are emerging and developing markets.”

“Strong progress is happening across Asia, LatAm, and Africa,” and that “Demand for safe, transparent digital dollars is strong,” he said.

Circle did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

At the same time, the CEO has not shied away from lobbying U.S. lawmakers–despite his suggestion that USDC’s presence is considerably smaller in the country–urging Congress in July to protect stablecoins and “build trust in digital dollars.”

Allaire’s company, Circle, is the issuer of US Dollar Coin (USDC), the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, trailing Tether (USDT), which boasts a market cap of more than three times its size.

Both USDC and USDT have been vying for the top spot for years, although their competition became even fiercer yesterday when fintech giant PayPal launched its own stablecoin PYUSD.

USDC has been in freefall in terms of market capitalization, dropping more than 50% over the past year.

According to Coingecko, from August 8, 2022, to August 8, 2023, the stablecoin plummeted from $54 billion to just over $26 billion.

The company released a full asset breakdown report last month that–although unaudited–claims USDC is fully backed by cash and U.S. treasuries.