In 2024, almost twice as many USDC transactions went through BitPay as USDT transactions, but this year the trend has swung in favor of Tether.
It is the second most valuable stablecoin, but its main competitor, Tether’s USDt, has been taking market share away from it on BitPay, the biggest payment site in 2025.
BitPay data shared with Cointelegraph shows that Circle’s USDC transaction share dropped significantly compared to Tether’s USDt (USDT). In 2024, USDC transactions made up most of BitPay’s stablecoin transactions.
In January 2024, 85% of BitPay transactions were in USDC and only 13% were in USDT. It had tipped in favor of Tether by May 2025, with USDC’s share of transfers dropping to 56% and USDT’s share rising to 43%.
Even though people were excited about Circle’s public launch in early June and its regulatory benefits over Tether’s USDT, especially in the EU under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), things changed quickly.
Tether’s USDT is the most-used stablecoin on BitPay.
Regarding the number of transactions, Tether’s USDT stablecoin has closed the gap between its major competitors. It has also been the leader in terms of the number of payments.
It was the most popular token used in 2024. However, beginning in March 2025, USDT gained a sizable share of transaction volume, with BitPay reporting that it handled more than 70% of all stablecoin volume.
They say the switch to UDST is because “both a growth in overall stablecoin transactions” and a “swing in existing merchants and customers preferring USDT over USDC” caused it.
Bill Zielke, the chief revenue officer of BitPay, said that the platform has a “sizable base of users and merchants in Europe,” but its primary goal is still to grow in the US.
Zielke said, “In 2024, the number of USDC transactions was almost twice that of USDT.” He also noted that USDC is still the most popular stablecoin on BitPay by transaction count, even though it has dropped since 2025.
Tether turns down both MiCA and a public start.
Given the many ways that Tether and Circle are different, including how they handle regulation, the fact that Tether is the leader in payment rates and is becoming more and more dominant in transaction counts on BitPay against USDC is interesting.
In July 2024, Circle was the first global stablecoin issuer to get regulatory approval under Europe’s MiCA. However, Tether has frequently criticized some parts of the MiCA regulation and clarified that it will not follow the European framework.
In June, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino also said the company has no plans to go public. This comes when Circle went public on June 5 after raising $1.05 billion in an enlarged offering.
CoinGecko says that USDC’s market cap has grown by up to 88% in the last year, rising from about $33 billion to $61.7 billion. USDT’s market value rose by 40% during the same period, from $112.5 billion to $158.3 billion.
Also, the market value of USDC has grown 41% so far this year, while the value of USDT has only grown 15.5%.
