USDT Surges as Payments Leader, USDC Dominates DeFi Flows

Crypto news has revealed that USDT is leading payments, while USDC dominates DeFi flows. According to Dune's Digital Asset Brief, USDT settled around $95 billion in identified commerce payments during H1 2026, with USDC handling just $14 billion over the same period.

This marks a significant shift from the past, where stablecoins functioned more like identical dollar tokens. However, network choice, wallet behavior, and product design now play a crucial role in how users move digital dollars.

The data shows that USDT's dominance comes largely from Tron, with ordinary wallets holding around 93% of USDT supply on the network. This distribution indicates real transfer use rather than exchange-heavy positioning, aligning with remittance activity and low-cost settlement demand.

In contrast, USDC is strengthening its DeFi base, with Dune's Digital Asset Brief showing that it processed roughly $2.6 trillion in transfer volume in June on the Base network. Ethereum added another layer to USDC activity, handling around $1.6 trillion on the network during the same month.