Stablecoin supply up 23% in May to record US$95bn

The circulating supply of the four leading stablecoins has grown 23.8 per cent this month to hit an all-time high of US$95.1 billion, according to blockchain intelligence company Glassnode.

The supply of the leading stablecoin, Tether, jumped from US$51.5 billion to US$60.7 billion, and the supply of USD Coin, Dai and Binance USD rose strongly as well during a month in which crypto prices crashed.

For those who aren’t familiar, those cryptocurrencies are pegged (at least in theory, but mostly also in practice) to the value of the US dollar… hence the name, stablecoin. There are also other stablecoins that track the Euro and other fiat assets.

Some suggested that the increased supply of stablecoins indicated that sophisticated traders were simply taking a break from the market during the crash, but hadn’t cashed out completely.

They’re hinting that the coins haven’t been withdrawn completely because they’re waiting to re-enter the market.

If the majority of stablecoins were exchanged and withdrawn, it’d be easy to call the bull run over.

— CerebroLimitado (@Cerebrolimitado) May 27, 2021

US payments giant PayPal has reportedly been developing its own stablecoin as it works to allow its US users to withdraw cryptocurrencies in their wallets.

But in an interview as part of the Consensus blockchain conference, PayPal vice president for crypto Jose Fernandez da Ponte indicated that a PayPal stablecoin wouldn’t be coming anytime soon.

“This is way too early,” he said, according to Coindesk.