Circle mints $500M USDC on Solana; stablecoin supply rises

Circle minted $500 million in USDC on the Solana network, increasing USDC’s share of stablecoin liquidity on Solana to above 51% and contributing roughly $370 million of inflows to the chain this week. The issuance is part of a broader rise in stablecoin balances on Solana over the past week.

On-chain data show USDC supply on Solana rose nearly 6% during the week, while USDC balances on Ethereum declined about 1.48% over the same period. Solana now holds about 10.3% of total USDC supply, compared with roughly 64% on Ethereum. Solana’s total stablecoin market capitalization is approaching its prior peak near $16 billion.

SOL price metrics moved lower over the same period. The SOL/ETH ratio fell almost 3% over the week, and SOL dropped to multi-month lows. Technical indicators show the token’s Relative Strength Index entered deeply oversold territory.

On-chain activity on Solana included heavy derivatives trading. Data from DeFiLlama show perpetual DEX volume on the network reached $64.5 billion in May, the highest single-month figure recorded for Solana. Trading tied to memecoin-focused platforms and rapid token turnover accounted for a large share of recent volume.

Stablecoins serve as a common on-ramp for Layer 1 networks, allowing users to trade, lend and move capital on-chain without converting to fiat. The fresh USDC issuance increases available liquidity for trading and decentralized finance activity on Solana.

During the week, on-chain metrics recorded rising stablecoin balances alongside elevated derivatives and memecoin trading, while SOL’s price indicators weakened over the same timeframe.