Stablecoin Scale Shock: $322B Reshapes Crypto Markets
The post Stablecoin Scale Shock: $322B Reshapes Crypto Markets appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Crypto now runs on a $322 billion base layer of on-chain dollars. That scale is not just a headline; it rewires how exchanges quote prices, how brokers settle, how DeFi routes liquidity, and how regulators think about systemic risk. The market’s core unit of account is, increasingly, a stablecoin. In late May, aggregated trackers showed stablecoin capitalization at a fresh record near $322B, a sum that rivals the foreign-exchange reserves of most countries, underscoring how large the “crypto dollar” market has become (CryptoBriefing (citing DefiLlama / CoinDesk)). A crucial nuance is concentration. Public on‑chain data in mid‑May indicated Tether’s USDT at roughly $189.63B (58.8%) and Circle’s USDC near $78.96B (24.5%), together ~83.3% of supply (Analysis Atlas). When so much liquidity depends on so few issuers, the entire market’s microstructure adapts around their policies, reserves, a