Bullish Turn as Stablecoin Wallets Double Amid Crypto Market Surge

The world of digital currency is continuously evolving as economic developments consistently shape its trajectory. One of the latest trends is the observable rise of non-empty wallets for stablecoins like Circle’s USDC (USD Coin) and Tether’s USDT (Tether), which have been concurrently trending upwards in line with the recovering prices of cryptocurrency since the onset of the year. This growth spurt is particularly remarkable, as it has meant that these non-empty wallets have more than doubled in a rather short span of time.

Historically speaking, a surge of this kind is a boon for the crypto sector, potentially indicative of recent sell-offs yet on the whole indicating a bullish turn based on past records. An even more concrete testament to this bullish trend is exhibited by a sharp 13.9% jump in non-empty wallets for USDT and USDC.

The veracity of these findings is reaffirmed by Santiment, an on-chain data tracking platform that has detected a substantial upheaval in the number of cryptocurrency wallets holding a balance in stablecoins. The bulk of this growth has been seen in Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.

Santiment’s data reveals that the quantity of wallets that are holding USDC but are not empty has risen by 13.9% during 2024. Simultaneously, USDT wallets have also been prosperously expanding, with a dramatic 15.7% ascent in non-empty wallets being reported during the same period.

A steady progression in Bitcoin’s price, which had rebounded and brought the entire cryptocurrency market along with it, has led to an increase in the number of non-empty wallets. The total number of USDT holders hiked from around 4.5 million at the year’s commencement to approximately 5.7 million at the time this report was produced. The corresponding figure for USDC escalated from around 1.9 million to a substantial 2.15 million. Consequently, the two stablecoins combined have more than 7.85 million wallets between them.

While the recent surge in non-empty stablecoin wallets might imply some degree of selling, an equally plausible interpretation is that these increments could be signaling a bullish trend with an increasingly large number of coins being minted. This proposition pushes the narrative that investors are viewing this period as an opportune moment for buying rather than selling.

This upturn in non-empty stablecoin wallets spells a positive forecast for the economy of crypto. Especially in instances of market retrace, as Santiment’s on-chain tracker elucidates, investors commonly retain their funds in stablecoins, hibernating and waiting for the right time to plunge with optimal buying conditions. During phases of market retrace, investors tend to utilize stablecoins including USDT and USDC to procure other assets at reduced prices.

There is a discernible correlation between the swell in both Bitcoin and crypto prices this year and the escalating stablecoin market cap. For instance, the USDT market cap journeyed from $93 billion in January to stride beyond $111 billion since then, marking a growth of 20%. In tandem, the USDC market cap clambered from $25 billion in January to surge past $33 billion in May, signifying a whopping uptick of 32% for the stablecoin.

In the most recent demonstration of the ongoing trend, over $160 million was transported from the USDC treasury into unspecified wallets through two transactions in under twenty-four hours. These figures endorse the narrative that crypto investors are priming themselves to take the plunge and dive into the market. The cumulative market cap of crypto now stands at a staggering $2.5 billion.