Crypto Market Retreat Shrinks Stablecoin Capitalization

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell back to around $2.17 trillion, near levels seen at the start of the week, with Bitcoin trading around $64,000 after losing momentum at the $65,000 threshold. Leading altcoins such as Uniswap, Filecoin and VeChain posted modest gains, while Cosmos, Zcash and Basic Attention Token lagged.

Stablecoins experienced a sharp contraction, with the sector’s market cap dropping roughly $10 billion over ten weeks to a six‑month low. USDT lost about $6 billion, falling from $190 billion to $184 billion, and USDC slipped from $80 billion to $74 billion. Analysts link the outflows to the U.S. GENIUS Act, which bans yield‑generating activities for payment stablecoins, prompting investors to move capital into tokenized Treasury products that now hold about $16 billion. Despite the decline in holdings, stablecoin transaction volumes reached a record $1.79 trillion in June, indicating growing use for payments.