How much is in circulation
How many dollars sit in stablecoins? On November 8, 2026, data provider DefiLlama put total supply at $294.1 billion. Two coins hold most of it. Tether’s USDT accounted for about $177 billion, or 60% of the total, and Circle’s USDC for about $71 billion, or 24%.
Coins pegged to the US dollar made up 99.4% of supply in the same data. Of those dollar coins, about 91% by value are ones that DefiLlama classes as fiat-backed, meaning the issuer holds cash or similar assets against the tokens it has in circulation. Euro coins remain a small corner of the market. The largest, Circle’s EURC, had about 517 million tokens outstanding.
Three legal names for one idea
The EU, the US and the UK each use their own term, and the definitions don’t line up exactly.
| Jurisdiction | Legal term | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| EU | E-money token or asset-referenced token | A token that references one official currency is an e-money token; one that references anything else, including several currencies, is an asset-referenced token (MiCA, Article 3) |
| US | Payment stablecoin | A digital asset used for payment or settlement that its issuer must redeem for a fixed amount of monetary value, with deposits and securities excluded (GENIUS Act, section 2) |
| UK | Qualifying stablecoin | A cryptoasset that seeks a stable value against one fiat currency, with fiat or other assets held to keep it there (article 88G of the Regulated Activities Order, as amended in 2026) |
The EU rules for both token types have applied since June 30, 2024, under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. The GENIUS Act became US law on July 18, 2025 and takes effect on January 18, 2027, the start date given in the OCC’s final rule of October 23, 2026. Britain’s definition comes from the Cryptoassets Regulations 2026, made on February 4, 2026, and the FCA expects the regime to come into force on October 25, 2027.
Who can cash out at $1
Can any holder swap a coin for a dollar with the issuer? Usually not. In its annual report for 2025, Circle says USDC and EURC are redeemable one for one directly with it by institutional customers of its Circle Mint service, and by certain other users “in our role as the redeemer of last resort”. Everyone else sells to another buyer.
That market price is the one a wallet app shows, and it’s the price that slips in a depeg. A Federal Reserve research note from February 2024 draws the same line, saying only direct customers of Circle, “cleared through an application process”, could use the primary market for USDC.
What a stablecoin is not
A stablecoin isn’t a bank deposit. Under the GENIUS Act, payment stablecoins may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States or covered by federal deposit insurance, and it is unlawful to represent that they are. MiCA counts an e-money token as electronic money, and its recitals say electronic money should not be treated as a deposit.
Once the GENIUS Act takes effect, US issuers will have to publish their redemption policy along with every fee for buying or redeeming coins. For any stablecoin, those terms are the place to check who can get a dollar back, and at what cost.