In 2023, the transaction volume using stablecoins reached a staggering $7 trillion, according to data from Circle. These digital currencies gained particular popularity in Latin American countries, where their usage even surpassed that of Bitcoin.
A study conducted by analysts at Sixdegree revealed that since 2022, there has been a significant reduction of 34% in the supply of stablecoins on the Ethereum network, while on the Tron network, there was an increase of 57.7%. This shift highlights the differing trends in the development of these two blockchain systems.
By the end of 2023, despite these fluctuations, the overall capitalization of digital currencies with real backing did not show significant growth. As of December 25, it amounted to over $129.5 billion, which is less compared to $139 billion at the end of the previous year.
Experts also noted that the capitalization of stablecoins on Ethereum decreased to $69.4 billion. Meanwhile, on the Tron blockchain, it increased, which researchers attribute to lower transaction fees.
The distribution of stablecoins in these networks also varies. About half of the stablecoins based on Ethereum are held in autonomous wallets, 30% are stored on exchange addresses, and only 5.5% are used in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. At the beginning of 2022, up to 25% of Ethereum-based stablecoins were invested in DeFi.
In the Tron network, 70% of the tokens are in cold storage, and 30% circulate on centralized exchanges. DeFi protocols in the Tron network account for only 0.2% of the total volume of stablecoins, highlighting their limited use in this area.
