USDC Minting Surges as Zcash ETF Squeezes Shorts
USDC (USDC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
bitcoinethereumnews.com reports that Circle’s USDC added roughly $584 million to its market cap in a single week, contributing to a combined $1 billion increase across USDC, Ethena’s USDe, and PayPal’s PYUSD. This weekly gain confirms USDC as the fastest-growing large stablecoin, bringing its total supply to between $74 billion and $77 billion, or about 24% of the market. Despite trailing Tether’s USDT in raw supply, USDC captures between 60% and 70% of adjusted on-chain transaction volume, indicating it punches above its weight in actual usage.
The token’s growth follows an even larger $1.5 billion jump in August, with analysts describing the recent demand as consistent and repeatable rather than a short-lived surge. USDC remains backed by cash and short-term Treasuries, leveraging a reputation for regulatory compliance to attract institutional users. Meanwhile, Zcash surged roughly 20% on September 4, reaching an intraday high near $1,023 to $1,051, triggering approximately $212 million in total crypto liquidations.
This move was largely driven by Grayscale’s ZCSH spot ETF, which debuted on August 25 and pulled in more than $400 million in assets, creating sustained buying pressure. The rally squeezed leveraged shorts, with short liquidations on ZEC perpetual futures totaling between $34.5 million and $44 million. Open interest in ZEC futures had climbed above $2 billion, with bearish bets concentrated due to a critical vulnerability disclosed in May 2026 in Zcash’s Orchard shielded pool.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for USDC, measured when this story was written up on 6 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio data shows USDC trading at $0.9998 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 50.1%, indicating a balanced market where buying and selling are nearly equal. Short-term pressure shows a slight imbalance, with the 1-hour buy ratio at 44.6% and the 4-hour ratio at 46.9%, suggesting buying interest is currently fading compared to the daily average. Volume deltas reflect this divergence, showing a net outflow of -$7,942,522 in the last hour and -$20,887,361 over four hours, while the 24-hour delta remains positive at +$4,506,350. The cumulative volume delta (CVD) for the day closed at -$24,059,462, indicating that despite positive daily inflows, recent hourly flows have been net sellers. Over the 24-hour period, spot volume reached $2,155,370,176 across 429,870 trades, with net buying occurring for only 12 of the 24 hours.
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.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for USDC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Compared to the preceding week, today’s activity represents a shift from a broader trend of net outflows. The 24-hour volume delta of +$4,506,350 contrasts sharply with the 8-day total volume delta of -$296,160,067, highlighting a temporary reversal in selling pressure. While the current buy ratio of 50.1% is slightly above the 7-day average of 48.8%, the volume relative to the average is only 0.83x, indicating lighter trading activity. Last week saw net buying on just 1 of 7 days, suggesting that today’s positive daily delta is an unusual spike rather than a sustained trend. The price change over the 8-day period remains at 0.0%, confirming that despite the volume fluctuations, the token’s value has remained stable against the broader weekly context.