The Rise and Development of the Solana Stablecoin Ecosystem

In the first quarter of 2025, the supply of stablecoins on Solana experienced rapid growth. The total value of stablecoins increased from $5.2 billion in January to $11.7 billion in February, a growth of 2.25 times. This surge coincided with the launch of the TRUMP token, which attracted global attention on the USDC trading pair on the decentralized exchange Meteora.

Since the low of 150 million dollars on December 2023, the liquidity of Solana's stablecoin has been continuously rising. Currently, Solana ranks third in stablecoin liquidity among all public blockchain networks, only behind Ethereum and Tron.

In the first quarter of 2025, Solana's average monthly on-chain stablecoin transaction volume exceeded 200 million. It peaked at 263.9 million in January and was 237.7 million in April. Compared to 25.2 million in September 2023, it almost increased tenfold.

During the same period, the peer-to-peer stablecoin trading volume on Solana was also very robust. In January alone, there were recorded peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers amounting to $59.2 billion, far exceeding the low of $10.6 billion in September 2024.

In the first quarter of 2025, the average number of unique addresses interacting with stablecoins on Solana exceeded 3 million per day, peaking at 4.4 million in January. This represents an eightfold increase compared to October 2023.

Main stablecoins issued by Solana

Solana has a diverse stablecoin ecosystem. USDC dominates in trading volume and adoption, accounting for over 70%, followed by USDt at about 18%. Additionally, there is a long tail market made up of many emerging stablecoins.

USDC (USD Coin)

• Issued by Circle, it is the most widely used stablecoin on Solana.
• 1:1 dollar support, with monthly audit reports published
• The current supply on Solana is $9.35 billion, with 4.3 million unique accounts.

USDt (Tether)

• The largest stablecoin by market capitalization globally, launched on Solana in September 2020
• Backed by fiat currency, releasing quarterly audit reports
• The supply on Solana is $2.39 billion, with 1.98 million unique accounts.

PYUSD (PayPal美元)

• Issued by PayPal in collaboration with Paxos, launching on Solana in May 2024
• Collateralized by USD deposits, short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, etc.
• The supply on Solana is $215.9 million, with 20,400 independent accounts.

USDS (Sky)

• Formerly known as MakerDAO's DAI stablecoin
• Over-collateralized DeFi stablecoin backed by crypto assets and real-world assets
• The supply on Solana is $102.4 million, with 7,500 independent accounts.

Long Tail Dollar Stablecoin

There are also various emerging stablecoins on Solana, including:

• USDe (Ethena)
• FDUSD (First Digital USD)
• USDG (Global Dollar)
• AUSD ( Agora USD )
• sUSD (Solayer USD)
• MoveUSD
• cfUSD (Brale)
• USDY (Ondo USD Yield)
• PST (Huma)
• *USD (Perena)
• yUSD (Synatra)

These stablecoins use different design mechanisms and collateralization methods, providing users with more options.

Borderless Finance: stablecoin "sandwich"

Stablecoins are becoming an important tool for global cross-border payments. The "stablecoin sandwich" model includes:

1. Exchange fiat currency in area A for stablecoin
2. Cross-border transmission of stablecoin through blockchain
3. Exchange stablecoin for fiat currency in region B

This process makes cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and more convenient, especially between regions with weaker financial connectivity.

The global non-wholesale cross-border payment market is expected to grow from $39.9 trillion in 2024 to $64.5 trillion in 2032. Common use cases include remittances, e-commerce payments, B2B payments, and international payroll disbursements.

The Solana network performs excellently in stablecoin transfers, with a single transaction cost of less than $0.01 and a settlement time of less than 1 second.

Solana stablecoin off-chain solution

The new generation of products is connecting Solana stablecoin balances with physical and virtual debit cards, as well as virtual bank accounts, allowing users to spend stablecoins at millions of merchants worldwide. The main solutions include:

• KAST: Provides a Visa card and virtual U.S. bank account linked to USDC balance.
• Fuse: A personal finance wallet developed by Squads, offering virtual Visa cards and bank accounts.
• Sanctum: Plans to launch a debit card supported by LST
• Solflare: Will collaborate with Mastercard to launch a debit card.
• Solayer: Provides the Emerald Visa debit card, covering over 100 countries
• MoonPay: Announced the launch of a Mastercard linked to on-chain stablecoin balances.

Benefits of Stablecoins for Consumers

1. Substantial yield generation

   • DeFi platforms like Kamino offer stablecoin yields higher than traditional banks.
   • Other sources of income include liquidity pools, perpetual market strategies, etc.

2. Value Storage

   • As a local currency alternative in economically unstable or high inflation areas
   • Provide alternatives for dollar-denominated accounts

3. Remittances and Cross-Border Transactions

   • Provide faster and cheaper cross-border payment methods
   • Reduce intermediary fees, allowing more funds to reach the payee

In summary, Solana, with its high performance and active ecosystem, is expected to become an important platform in the next wave of stablecoin adoption. The rapid development of stablecoins on Solana provides users with more financial options, drives innovation in cross-border payments, and brings greater financial inclusion to emerging markets.