Stablecoins now dominate over-the-counter crypto trading, accounting for 74.6% of all institutional spot deals in the first half of 2025, up from 46% a year earlier and just 23% in 2023, according to a new report from trading-technology firm Finery Markets. The company said it analyzed 4.1 million trades on its non-custodial trading platform between January and June for its report.
Overall, OTC spot volume jumped 112.6% year over year, while trade count climbed 57.6%. Stablecoin transactions grew 154%, and crypto-to-stablecoin flows surged 277.4%, well above the 48.5% growth noted in crypto-to-fiat transactions. Analysts said this makes stablecoins the fastest-growing segment in the crypto market.
According to Finery, USDC was the standout performer so far this year with a 29-fold increase in turnover, helped by Europe’s new MiCA regime, which pushed some venues to delist or restrict Circle’s biggest competitor, Tether’s USDT. Altcoins also gained ground, with Cardano, Litecoin, Solana, Tron, and XRP collectively capturing 16.7% of OTC volume, although Bitcoin, ETH, and stablecoins remain the core of institutional rotation.
Additionally, the report highlights a flurry of M&A deals and product launches as institutional settlement preferences increasingly shift toward fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies. Stripe acquired payment infrastructure provider Bridge in a $1.1 billion deal and introduced a blockchain-powered money management feature shortly after. Legacy firms JPMorgan and Fiserv shared plans for new stablecoin efforts. Venture firms added fuel, as Galaxy Digital raised $175 million for a DeFi and stablecoin fund, and startup Ubyx pulled in $10 million for a clearing network.
Risks persists
Some have referred to stablecoins as crypto’s “killer use case” or the industry’s “WhatsApp moment.” Projections from U.S. officials, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, suggest that the dollar-pegged token market could surpass $2 trillion by 2028 and “lock in” dollar supremacy with favorable legislation, although JPMorgan shared a less bullish estimate.
Still, Finery CEO and co-founder Konstantin Shulga sees an increasing systemic risk as institutional adoption and the number of stablecoin issuers grow. Shulga warned that deeper secondary-market liquidity must keep pace with issuance to buffer potential future depeg events.
“With an increase in stablecoin issuers across blockchains, market fragmentation and risk escalate,” Finery’s CEO said. “A depegging event for one stablecoin could trigger a widespread run on issuers, significantly amplifying systemic risk. While confidence crises are inevitable with increasing issuers, secondary market depth can buffer these events to contain depegging.
© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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