USDC Faces Decline in Market Share on BitPay as Tether Gains Ground

According to Cointelegraph, USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is experiencing a decline in market share against its primary competitor, Tether's USDt, on the major payment platform BitPay in 2025. After leading stablecoin transactions on BitPay in 2024, Circle's USDC saw a significant drop in its transaction share compared to Tether's USDt, as indicated by data from BitPay. In January 2024, USDC accounted for 85% of transactions on BitPay, while USDT held a 13% share. By May 2025, the dynamics had shifted, with USDC's share decreasing to 56% and USDT's increasing to 43%. This shift occurred despite the positive outlook surrounding Circle's public launch in early June and its regulatory advantages over Tether's USDT, particularly in the European Union under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Tether's USDT not only narrowed the gap in transaction count but also led in payment volume. BitPay reported that starting in March 2025, USDT captured over 70% of the stablecoin volume processed by the platform. The transition to USDT is attributed to a growth in overall stablecoin transactions and a preference among existing merchants and customers for USDT over USDC. BitPay's chief revenue officer, Bill Zielke, highlighted that while the platform has a significant user and merchant base in Europe, it remains focused on expanding in the United States. In 2024, USDC's transaction count was nearly double that of USDT, but it has declined in 2025. Tether's dominance in payment volumes and increasing transaction count on BitPay against USDC is noteworthy, given the differences between Tether and Circle, including their regulatory approaches. Circle became the first global stablecoin issuer to receive regulatory approval under Europe's MiCA in July 2024, while Tether has criticized certain aspects of MiCA and refused to comply with the framework in Europe. In June, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed that Tether has no plans for an initial public offering, contrasting with Circle's public trading debut on June 5 after raising $1.05 billion in its upsized offering. Despite USDC's decline against USDT on BitPay in 2025, it has seen significant growth in market capitalization over the past year. Data from CoinGecko shows that USDC's market cap surged by 88% from around $33 billion to $61.7 billion, while USDT's market value increased by 40% from $112.5 billion to $158.3 billion. Additionally, USDC's market cap has risen 41% year-to-date, compared to a 15.5% increase for USDT.