Ethereum Holds Over Half Of The Stablecoin Market

While the market watches ETFs and bitcoin monopolizes headlines, another dynamic, less noisy but more structuring, is underway : the rise of stablecoins. Backed by fiat currencies, these long secondary assets are becoming the backbone of the new digital finance. And at the heart of this transformation, one player stands out : Ethereum. The network is on track to become the central infrastructure of the tokenized monetary system.

Ethereum, the backbone of the stablecoin market

While bitcoin loses ground against the market’s second crypto, in an analysis published Thursday, JPMorgan experts state “that Ethereum emerges as a direct means of exposure to the anticipated meteoric growth of stablecoins”, due to its central role in hosting these assets.

The observation is unequivocal : 51 % of circulating stablecoins are currently issued on Ethereum, representing a total value of $138 billion, according to DefiLlama data. Even when stablecoins are created on Layer 2 networks, the underlying structure remains largely backed by Ethereum, analysts emphasize.

This dominance is confirmed in a context of strong market growth. The stablecoin sector recorded its eighth consecutive month of increase in July, with annual growth faster than that of the entire crypto market, according to JPMorgan. The bank reveals several key factors :

• Accelerated adoption of stablecoins, particularly in payments, exchanges, and cross-chain transfers ;

• Massive concentration on Ethereum, both in Layer 1 and through Layer 2s like Base or Starknet ;

• An ETH burn mechanism triggered by network usage, reducing circulating supply and potentially supporting the price ;

• Growing separation between stablecoin market dynamics and those of other crypto assets, marking the sector’s entry into a phase of economic maturity.

JPMorgan concludes that this growth “perpetuates the theme of divergence of stablecoins from the crypto ecosystem as a whole”. In other words, stablecoins now follow their own development logic, of which Ethereum remains the main technical and economic infrastructure.

The GENIUS Act, trigger of massive institutional interest

If Ethereum’s dominance in stablecoins was already structural, recent regulatory events have accelerated this dynamic.

JPMorgan particularly points to the enactment of the GENIUS Act, a U.S. regulatory framework that lays the legal foundations for the issuance and circulation of stablecoins in the United States. This law has “catalyzed increased activity in July in DeFi, NFT, and spot markets”, according to the bank’s note.

Furthermore, the rise of stablecoins goes beyond purely crypto projects, as it is now driven by ambitions from Wall Street.

Concrete examples support this transition. Circle, issuer of USDC, went public, while Robinhood launched its own Ethereum-based Layer 2. These initiatives, combined with new partnerships, such as that between MetaMask and Stripe, show that Web2 and traditional finance players are increasingly active in the Ethereum ecosystem.

This transition is not without technical impact. Layer 2s certainly allow cost savings but also lead to a decrease in ETH burn rate, observed at historically low levels in April. Such a variable should be monitored in the scarcity equation that supports the price of ether.

JPMorgan’s projection, which estimates the stablecoin market at $500 billion by 2028, is considered cautious compared to the $750 billion anticipated by 2026 by Standard Chartered. This disparity highlights uncertainty but also the sector’s huge growth potential, provided the infrastructure follows suit.

Ethereum could become the universal foundation of programmable finance, but this concentration also poses challenges : scalability, security, neutrality regarding private interests. In all cases, the alliance of stablecoins and Ethereum goes beyond a technical bet: it is now a strategic trajectory for the future of tokenized finance.