Stablecoin trading has reached unprecedented levels with adjusted transaction volume hitting a record ₹1.79 lakh crore in June 2026, representing a 63% increase from May's ₹1.1 lakh crore and 125% growth from June 2025's ₹795 crore. According to Visa's onchain dashboard, Circle's USDC accounted for approximately 70% of adjusted transaction volume during the first half of 2026, significantly widening its lead over Tether's USDT, which held roughly 25% of the market. The first six months of 2026 totaled ₹8.82 lakh crore in adjusted stablecoin transaction volume, surpassing the ₹5.8 lakh crore recorded in all of 2024 and falling short of the ₹10.8 lakh crore record from 2025. This dramatic shift reflects growing adoption by banks and financial institutions for payments, settlement and treasury operations, with Standard Chartered and BNY recently adding USDC services rather than building their own infrastructure.
On June 30, 2026, Ripple signed on as a day-one integration partner to Open USD (OUSD), a new dollar stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, BNY, Coinbase, and Google. According to reports from CoinDesk, the coin is planned to go live later in 2026 across multiple blockchains including Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon, with Solana being highlighted as a native day-one chain. Ripple kept its own stablecoin, RLUSD, and joined OUSD as an integration partner rather than an issuer, positioning itself as neutral infrastructure that can carry flows for the winner regardless of which stablecoin dominates.
While USDC maintains its market leadership, Circle faces mixed signals from analysts and investors. Jefferies warned investors on July 2 that the launch of the OUSD stablecoin could weaken Circle's position in the stablecoin market and weigh on its valuation, following CRCL's largest one-day decline since March on June 30 when the stock sold off following OUSD's launch. However, some concerns have faded after questions emerged over Open Standard's claims of having 140 partners, with Samsung and Dunamu later distancing themselves from the project, casting doubt on some of the announced industry backing. ARK Invest provided support by disclosing purchases of roughly ₹17.8 crore worth of Circle shares despite the cautious outlook, while Circle's stablecoin market capitalization slipped from ₹73.75 crore on June 30 to ₹72.87 crore by July 6. The stock has shown resilience, closing 4% higher at ₹64 on July 2 and trading around ₹66 in pre-market trading on July 6, extending gains even after Jefferies' advice.
From a technical perspective, CRCL has rebounded after finding support near the 1.0 Fibonacci extension at ₹61.73 on the four-hour chart, helping the stock recover from around ₹62 to nearly ₹66. The recovery has yet to change the broader technical picture, as CRCL remains below the Supertrend indicator near ₹75.66, which continues to signal that sellers retain control. Momentum indicators are beginning to improve, with the MACD histogram almost returning to the zero line after several weeks of negative readings, suggesting selling pressure is fading. If buyers push the stock above the Supertrend resistance, the next upside levels to watch are the Fibonacci retracement zones near ₹78.47, followed by ₹91.61 and ₹100.84. On the downside, losing support around ₹61.73 would weaken the current recovery attempt and increase the risk of another move lower.
According to CoinDesk analysis, the most direct casualty of the OUSD launch may be RLUSD, which has been contracting from a peak near ₹1.7 billion in market value toward roughly ₹1.4 billion even as Ripple expanded it into Japan and Turkey. The critical distinction is that OUSD does not launch on the XRP Ledger, with the XRP Ledger not among the launch networks, leaving the direct on-chain benefit to XRP absent at launch. While Ripple can still route value between OUSD on other chains and RLUSD on the ledger, the immediate mechanical link many holders imagined is not present on day one. However, the network runs on the XRP Ledger and Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, which Mastercard cited for its seconds-level finality and low settlement cost, strengthening long-term institutional positioning for both RLUSD and the XRP Ledger. Since Ripple launched its RLUSD stablecoin, XRP has dropped roughly 50% as the new token has become the preferred bridge asset for cross-border transactions.
