The market capitalization of the USDC stablecoin is nearing $80 billion, driven by increased demand in the Middle East as investors seek alternatives amidst turmoil in traditional markets. Currently, the circulating supply has reached approximately $79.2 billion, marking a record high for the dollar-pegged stablecoin, according to CoinMarketCap.
In early February, the market cap was just over $70 billion, rising to $75 billion earlier this month. Analyst Rami Al-Hashimi, based in Dubai, attributes this spike to capital flight from the United Arab Emirates, particularly linked to a significant decline in the local real estate market, which has seen property prices drop by around 27% this month.
Furthermore, the DFM Real Estate Index has experienced a sharp sell-off, dropping from approximately 16,800 to about 11,516, a decrease of roughly 31%. Al-Hashimi noted that some property sellers are now accepting cryptocurrency payments, even offering discounts for transactions made with Bitcoin.
Additionally, USDC has overtaken Tether’s USDt in adjusted transaction volume for the first time since 2019, as reported by Japanese investment bank Mizuho, which highlighted USDC’s transactions reaching about $2.2 trillion.