Updated: 21.03.2026
- According to a survey by EY-Parthenon and Coinbase, the dollar stablecoin Circle’s USDC is gaining popularity among institutions.
- The reason for USDC’s growing success is its greater compliance with the US GENIUS Act.
USDC has overtaken USDT to become the most popular stablecoin among institutional investors, according to a survey of 351 respondents conducted by EY-Parthenon and Coinbase.
His the results showed, that in January 2026, 86% of respondents used or held USDC, compared to 55% in January 2025. Over the same period, the share of USDT holders increased from 57% to 68%.
The survey tracks the use of stablecoins by companies that currently own or use these digital assets. It compares responses from January 2025 to January 2026 across five stablecoin categories.
USDC’s share growth from 55% to 86% is the most significant change over the year among all assets on the chart. USDT’s share increased from 57% to 68%, also a significant jump, but in January 2026, it lagged USDC by 18 percentage points.
According to EY-Parthenon analysts, institutional investors favor USDC due to its stricter compliance with the GENIUS Act, the Senate stablecoin bill on which an agreement in principle on yield was reached this week.
USDC is issued by Circle under the supervision of US regulators, with full reserve transparency and regular audits. USDT from Tether has a less transparent reserve structure, which has historically raised concerns among institutional investors for whom regulatory compliance is important.
Currently USDT ranks third in the overall ranking of cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, while USDC is in fifth place, and is separated from the exchange token BNB by less than $1 billion in capitalization.
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