$3B leaves USDT, and yet stablecoins hit record payment use – Here’s why!

On one hand, money seems to be leaving the system. On the other hand, stablecoins are being used more than ever for actual payments.

What’s behind this divergence?

The money is leaving!

According to analyst MorenoDV, the supply of Tether [USDT] has shrunk over the past two months. In fact, its 60-day market cap change has dropped below $3 billion!

A sign of this vein has only appeared once before – in late 2022 – when Bitcoin [BTC] was forming its cycle bottom.

This is important because stablecoins like USDT act as working capital. They are the funds investors use to buy assets, open positions, and take risks. When that supply lessens, it means capital is leaving the system entirely.

The daily data showed the same pattern. USDT has recorded multiple single-day outflows exceeding $1 billion, which tend to cluster around heavy selling and market stress.

Source: CryptoQuant

But all’s not bad!

So while liquidity is tighter in parts of the market, stablecoins themselves are expanding in reach and use.

Source: Stablecon Artemis

According to a recent Q1 2026 research report, the U.S. is the largest hub for stablecoin activity, processing roughly $126B in monthly volume.

China and Hong Kong follow, with major Asian financial centers like Singapore and Japan also ranking high. This is now a global money movement!

Source: Stablecon Artemis

At the same time, the number of stablecoins with more than $10 million in supply has been climbing. Growth is increasingly coming from fiat-backed tokens rather than crypto-backed or algorithmic models.

That means that the market is moving toward structures that people trust more.

Source: Stablecon Artemis

And that adoption isn’t just happening on-chain. Card-linked stablecoin payments have exploded in recent months. They’ve gone from around $1B annualized spend early last year to roughly $4B!

With the greater bracket showing signs of growth, the short-term troubles look disconnected from the big picture.

Final Summary

• Liquidity is leaving crypto, with a $3b USDT exit.
• And yet, stablecoin payments are booming past $300B monthly!