Stablecoins on Exchanges: A $125B Liquidity Puzzle

Nearly half of all stablecoins are waiting on cryptocurrency exchanges for over a year.

According to data published by CryptoQuant, the exchange supply ratio has remained stable between 0.40 and 0.46 since December 2024, indicating that approximately 40% to 46% of all circulating stablecoins are parked in exchange accounts.

The liquidity structure is virtually unaltered over the past 18 months, a period marked by sharp price swings in the sector's main assets. Despite Bitcoin skyrocketing toward its current all-time high near $125,000 and later experiencing a correction that brought it back down toward the $60,000 level, the stablecoin ratio on exchanges shifted by a mere 5%.

The strong centralization around Binance is also evident, as the digital asset trading giant consistently concentrates between 25% and 30% of the entire global stablecoin supply. Analysts at CryptoQuant note that 'liquidity remains abundant, but highly selective.'