Circle Mints 5 Billion USDC as Supply Race with Tether Heats up
USDC (USDC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
news.bitcoin.com reports that Circle minted approximately 5 billion USDC over the past week, marking one of its largest weekly issuance pushes. Onchain analytics platform Solscan revealed this mint earlier today, noting it is part of a series of billion-dollar issuances this year. Earlier in April, Circle minted a record 3.25 billion USDC on Solana, followed by a 1.25 billion mint in the week of August 20.
Consequently, Solana’s share of total USDC supply has climbed past 10% in 2026, while Ethereum retains roughly two-thirds of the supply. USDC’s circulating supply stands at about $74 billion, less than half of Tether’s $183.1 billion market cap. Together, the two stablecoins account for around 83% of a total stablecoin market worth $304 billion.
Circle points to transaction volume as a counterargument, noting USDC moved $18.3 trillion in 2025 against USDT’s $13.3 trillion. This issuance coincides with Circle becoming the technical deployer for USDC on Hyperliquid, which activated its AQAv2 upgrade today. The arrangement gives Circle an incentive to keep fresh USDC flowing to platforms like Hyperliquid for reserve yield. Analysts will watch whether Tether’s larger reserve base forces Circle to compete more aggressively on distribution deals.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for USDC, measured when this story was written up on 27 August 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
USDC trades at $1.0000 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 47.9%, indicating a slight preference for sellers over the full day. The 1-hour and 4-hour buy ratios are lower at 46.0% and 45.6% respectively, showing that buying pressure is fading in the short term. The Volume Delta reflects this imbalance, with -$16,270,912 in the last hour and -$32,684,281 over four hours. Over 24 hours, the Volume Delta is -$119,312,698, meaning more capital flowed out via sells than came in via buys. The Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) at 24-hour close is -$146,376,579, confirming sustained net selling pressure. Spot volume reached $2,777,634,349 with 493,299 trades, but the net flow remains negative.
The latest daily buy ratio of 50.2% sits at the 73rd percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 48.4% - stronger buying than most days.
Twenty-four hours later
What USDC did over the 22 hours after the story broke. The market moves for its own reasons; this is what happened, not what the story caused.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for USDC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 50.0%, making today’s 47.9% reading 2.1 percentage points lower than the weekly norm. Volume was 0.89x the average, indicating lighter trading activity compared to the previous seven days. Net buying occurred on only 2 of the past 7 days, suggesting a generally neutral to slightly bearish trend. The 8-day Volume Delta total was -$162,776,293, showing consistent outflows over the longer timeframe. This is an ordinary day for the coin, characterized by a slight deviation from the weekly average buy ratio and reduced volume.