USDT added roughly 1.6 million new holders over the past week, compared with 591,100 for USDC, a nearly 3-to-1 difference. The increase comes as the broader stablecoin market cools from its May 2026 peak. Tether’s cumulative holder count surpassed 650 million by the end of Q2 2026, with quarterly additions consistently exceeding 30 million users. Its market capitalization stood at approximately $183 billion in mid-August 2026, versus $72 billion to $74 billion for USDC, making USDT about 2.5 times larger by total supply. Tether reported approximately $1.5 billion in net operating profit for Q2 2026 and held around $4.1 billion in excess reserves. USDT circulation reached roughly 184.6 billion tokens as of June 30, 2026. USDC remains strong in on-chain transaction volume, partly because of its integration with DeFi (decentralized finance) protocols, compliance-focused reputation and adoption by institutional desks and regulated platforms. Europe’s MiCA framework (the European Union’s crypto-asset rules) has also supported USDC on some exchanges. USDT’s growth is more concentrated in emerging markets, where access to dollar-denominated liquidity can matter more than regulatory positioning. The continued increase in users while total stablecoin supply contracts from its May highs highlights a widening gap between overall market supply and stablecoin adoption. Tether’s excess reserves also provide a buffer against concerns over whether the token is adequately backed.