$10 Trillion. Number That Changed Everything 💰

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Stablecoins processed $10 trillion in transaction volume. In a single month. USDC alone moved $8.4 trillion.

For context: Visa and Mastercard together process around $2 trillion monthly.

Stablecoins processed five times more.

The alternative payment infrastructure that excluded industries have been using is no longer alternative. It's the largest payment network on earth.

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The Number That Changed the Conversation

The January data, tracked by Artemis, represents a watershed moment for digital dollar infrastructure.

Total stablecoin transaction volume: $10 trillion in one month.

USDC's share: $8.4 trillion.

That annualizes to roughly $120 trillion. For comparison, the entire crypto market capitalization sits around $3 trillion.

The 2025 full-year number was $33 trillion in total stablecoin volume. January alone hit nearly a third of that.

Total stablecoin supply is now approaching $310 billion. Analysts describe this as more than $300 billion in "deployable dry powder" waiting for clearer signals.

Here's the paradox that reveals where we are in the adoption cycle: Circle's stock is down roughly 80% from its peak seven months ago. The infrastructure is winning. Individual companies may or may not.

Equity fund executive Dan Tapiero pointed out the disconnect: "USDC was $8T of that in one month," he said, arguing that the total addressable market for stablecoins could exceed $1,000 trillion over time.

For operators in stigmatized industries, the implication is clear. You don't need to bet on any single stablecoin company. You need to understand that $10 trillion flowed through these rails in one month.

And that infrastructure is now available to you.

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The First GENIUS Act Stablecoin Is Live

Tether launched USA₮ on January 27. This is the first federally regulated stablecoin built specifically to operate within the GENIUS Act framework.

The issuer is Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. That's America's first federally regulated stablecoin issuer.

The CEO of Tether USA₮ is Bo Hines, former White House Crypto Council Executive Director. Cantor Fitzgerald serves as reserve custodian and primary dealer.

"USA₮ offers institutions an additional option: a dollar-backed token made in America," said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. "USDT has proven for more than a decade that digital dollars can deliver trust, transparency, and utility at a global scale. USA₮ extends that mission by providing a federally regulated product designed for the American market."

Why This Matters

USA₮ creates a new category: a domestically issued, federally supervised stablecoin operating under explicit U.S. regulation.

For operators who need payment rails but face banking restrictions, this provides a compliant settlement option that didn't exist six months ago. The GENIUS Act framework means institutions can engage with this infrastructure without the regulatory ambiguity that previously surrounded stablecoin adoption.

Tether's existing USDT continues operating globally and leads as the world's most widely adopted stablecoin.

USA₮ is purpose-built for the U.S. market and its institutional requirements.

The pattern is clear. Stablecoin infrastructure is bifurcating into global rails and domestically regulated rails. Operators can now choose based on their compliance requirements and counterparty expectations..

Tether Now Holds More Treasuries Than Germany

Tether published its Q4 2025 attestation on January 30, prepared by BDO, a top-five global accounting firm.

The numbers are sovereign-scale.

• Direct U.S. Treasury holdings: $122 billion.

• Total Treasury exposure: $141 billion, including overnight reverse repurchase agreements.

• Net profit in 2025: More than $10 billion.

• Excess reserves: $6.3 billion above liabilities.

• USDT in circulation: $186.5 billion, an all-time high.

• Global users: More than 530 million.

Tether is now the 17th-largest holder of U.S. government debt worldwide. That's ahead of Germany, South Korea, and Australia.

In 2025 alone, Tether issued nearly $50 billion in new USDâ‚®. Approximately $30 billion of that came in the second half of the year as demand for dollar liquidity surged across emerging markets, payments, and digital asset trading.

"What matters about 2025 is not just the scale of growth, but the structure behind it," said Paolo Ardoino. "USDT expanded because global demand for dollars is increasingly moving outside traditional banking rails, particularly in regions where financial systems are slow, fragmented, or inaccessible."

When a stablecoin company holds more U.S. Treasuries than most nations, operators using these rails are no longer working with experimental technology.

They're working with institutional-grade financial infrastructure backed by $141 billion in the safest assets on earth.

Traditional Finance Is Capitulating

The institutions that spent years avoiding crypto are now racing to offer it.

UBS Group AG, which oversees approximately $4.7 trillion in wealth assets, plans to make cryptocurrency investing available for some private banking clients.

The Swiss banking giant is currently selecting partners for a crypto offering. Discussions have been ongoing for several months.

UBS would initially allow select clients of its private bank in Switzerland to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether. The offering may then roll out to Asia-Pacific and the U.S.

"As part of UBS's digital asset strategy, we actively monitor developments and explore initiatives that reflect client needs, regulatory developments, market trends and robust risk controls," a UBS spokesperson said.

This is the same UBS whose former chairman Axel Weber said in late 2021 that the concept of anonymous payments "will not survive."

Four years later, the bank is building crypto trading infrastructure.

Nubank Gets U.S. Banking Approval with Crypto Custody

Nu, Latin America's largest digital bank with 127 million customers, received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on January 30.

The approval allows Nubank to offer deposit accounts, credit cards, lending, and digital asset custody services under a comprehensive federal banking framework.

The OCC publicly acknowledged that crypto "debanking" is a real concern. This approval signals federal regulators are enabling crypto-banking integration rather than restricting it.

Nubank is establishing hubs in Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern Virginia, and the North Carolina Research Triangle. Final approvals from the FDIC and Federal Reserve are pending. The bank must fully capitalize within 12 months and open within 18 months.

For operators who have faced banking restrictions, Nubank represents a potential new relationship. A federally supervised institution with 127 million existing customers that explicitly includes digital asset custody in its charter.

The Broader Pattern

Morgan Stanley is partnering with ZeroHash to let E*Trade clients trade Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana starting in the first half of 2026. JPMorgan is exploring crypto trading for institutional clients.

Credit unions are moving even faster. Industry research predicts credit unions without crypto offerings will lose up to 20% of deposits by the end of 2026. Younger investors aged 21-43 hold 31% of their portfolios in alternatives and crypto, compared to 6% for investors over 44.

The January 12, 2026 amendment to the Responsible Financial Innovation Act explicitly allows federal credit unions to use digital assets.

Credit unions seeking younger member retention may become more receptive to businesses in emerging industries.