2026 Stablecoin Rankings Shakeup: SUI Surges 230x, TRON USDT Surpasses Ethereum

The ranking landscape of stablecoins is undergoing an unprecedented reshuffle. By 2025, the total market capitalization of global stablecoins has surpassed $245 billion, hidden behind fierce competition among major public chains. The once absolute dominant Ethereum is being encroached upon by emerging forces, while new players like SUI, Solana, BSC, and others are rapidly rising with extraordinary growth rates, rewriting the map of stablecoin rankings.

Market Landscape Shift: The Power Struggle for the Top Three Stablecoin Ranks

Traditional Dominance: Ethereum’s Defensive Stance

As of May 2025, Ethereum’s stablecoin market cap reached $122.5 billion, firmly holding 50% of the global stablecoin market. However, this seemingly solid position faces unprecedented challenges—In 2024, USDT on Ethereum increased by 83.1% throughout the year, but after entering 2025, it declined by 5.07%, being surpassed by Tron as the largest issuer chain of USDT for the first time.

Notably, USDC’s strong growth on Ethereum has become a lifeline maintaining its leading position in stablecoin rankings. From $25.2 billion in October 2024 to $36.9 billion in May 2025, a 46.4% increase in just half a year, USDC’s issuance on Ethereum now accounts for 60.82%, becoming a main pillar supporting Ethereum’s market share.

Tron’s Counterattack: From Chaser to Leader

Tron’s rise in stablecoin rankings is astonishing. USDT supply on Tron surged from $48.8 billion in 2024 to $77.7 billion in 2025, with its market share soaring to 31.3%, becoming the “distribution hub” for on-chain USD.

From a trading perspective, Tron has become an undisputed stablecoin trading hub—averaging 2.4 million USDT transactions daily, far surpassing Ethereum’s 284,000, with an average daily transfer value of $20 billion. Over 1 million unique accounts conduct stablecoin transactions on Tron daily, accounting for 28% of active stablecoin wallet addresses on the entire blockchain.

Tron’s rapid ascent in stablecoin rankings benefits from its low fees, high-speed transactions, and strategic cooperation with figures like Justin Sun and the Trump family—In May 2025, a co-founder of World Liberty Financial announced that its issued USD1 stablecoin would be natively issued on Tron.

The Rise of Emerging Challengers

SUI: The Super Dark Horse in Stablecoin Rankings

Among the fastest-growing players, SUI is undoubtedly the brightest star. From $5 million at the start of 2024 to $1.156 billion in May 2025, a 230-fold increase—this is the most remarkable growth record among all public chains.

USDC accounts for about 75% of SUI’s stablecoin holdings. Although its total market cap is still relatively limited, its rapid growth is enough to shake the entire industry. It’s worth noting that the Cetus hack incident in May caused some concerns about SUI’s security, making attracting more large-scale capital a key challenge for SUI’s stablecoin ranking to continue rising.

Solana and BSC’s Bipolar Growth

Solana’s rise in stablecoin rankings is equally impressive—growing from $1.8 billion in early 2024 to $11.4 billion in May 2025, a 627% increase. Although still a tenth of Ethereum’s size, considering Solana’s DEX trading volume has surpassed Ethereum, its stablecoin ecosystem still has huge development potential. USDC on Solana accounts for 73%, and PayPal’s issued PYUSD also holds an important position (market cap of $200 million, second only to Ethereum).

BSC’s stablecoin ranking has doubled—growing from $4 billion in 2024 to $10 billion in 2025, a 150% increase. Among them, USD1 stablecoin issuance rapidly increased from $7 billion at the end of April to $9 billion in May, becoming a new lever for ranking improvement. According to Visa’s on-chain analysis, stablecoin DEX trading on BSC surged from less than 10% in April to 28%, now comparable to centralized exchanges. Particularly in May, BSC accounted for 38.1% of stablecoin transactions across the entire chain, ranking first.

Base’s Thousandfold Miracle

As an Ethereum Layer 2 incubated by Coinbase, Base has achieved a 2,210% growth in stablecoin ranking—from $17.7 million in January 2024 to $4.09 billion in May 2025. USDC’s share on Base reaches 97.8%, making it the second-largest USDC issuance chain after Ethereum.

The Polarization of Growth Leaders and Struggling Chains

Rapidly Advancing New Networks

New public chains like Hyperliquid and Aptos are also emerging in stablecoin rankings. Hyperliquid accumulated $3.26 billion in stablecoin market cap in less than half a year, surpassing veteran L2s like Arbitrum, Polygon, and Avalanche. Aptos first broke the $1 billion mark in 2025, with a 2,408% increase since early 2024, becoming a twin star with SUI in the MOVE ecosystem.

Struggling Chains Falling Behind

Not all chains can ride the wave of stablecoin growth. Arbitrum experienced a sharp decline in early 2025, with stablecoin market cap dropping from a peak of $6.9 billion to $2.73 billion, mainly due to the termination of previous incentive programs, Tether’s USDT migration, and competition from chains like Blast.

Avalanche’s overall stablecoin market cap grew by 79%, but its growth rate has already slowed, fluctuating between $1 billion and $2 billion, and even a 96% decrease in underlying costs couldn’t reverse the downward trend. TON, after a short-term rally, saw its stablecoin scale drop from $1.4 billion at the start of the year to $900 million, with a lack of ongoing hotspots in its ecosystem contributing to its decline.

Polygon’s stablecoin ranking remains relatively stable, increasing from $1.26 billion to $2.15 billion, a nearly 70% growth, mainly driven by native USDC integration and pilot programs with giants like Visa and Mastercard.

The Deep Logic Behind Stablecoin Rankings

From Market Cap Competition to Ecosystem Competition

Changes in stablecoin rankings reflect the differences in public chain ecosystem competitiveness. Ethereum still maintains its lead through a comprehensive DeFi ecosystem and developer base, but its growth has slowed. Tron, leveraging its extremely low transfer costs and widespread adoption in emerging markets, has rapidly climbed the ranks. The rise of Solana and BSC is driven by their speed advantages, attracting derivatives trading and centralized applications.

Policy and Partnership Influences

The emergence of new stablecoins like USD1 is no longer confined to Ethereum but spans multiple chains. This indicates that stablecoin issuers are becoming more pragmatic in choosing issuance chains—favoring public chains with large user bases, low transaction costs, and friendly regulatory environments. Collaborations like Trump’s family with Tron and Coinbase’s support for Base are directly influencing the shifts in stablecoin rankings.

Future Outlook: A New Era of Stablecoin Rankings

As stablecoin legislation is gradually implemented worldwide, competition among public chains in stablecoin rankings will intensify. Industry leaders like Ethereum and Tron must both defend their current positions and seek growth in emerging fields; meanwhile, new chains like SUI, Solana, and BSC face a golden window for expansion.

Stablecoins are no longer just tools for asset trading but are becoming comprehensive indicators of a public chain’s ecosystem integrity, user base, and market recognition. In the arena of stablecoin rankings, capital, policy, technology, and applications are converging to drive the next wave of innovation in the cryptocurrency market.