Circle removed $9 billion from USDC supply in the last three months

The total supply of the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) has declined from $55.55 billion to $46.57 billion in the last 90 days, based on data from DeFiLlama.

This means that Circle, the USDC issuer, has burned about $9 billion worth of the stablecoin within the period.

It is the highest volume of USDC destroyed by Circle in any 90-day period. It also includes $1 billion that was removed from the stablecoin’s supply on Tron network in one day, earlier in October.

Circle burns USDC when a user redeems the coin for the underlying fiat currency, usually US dollars, that backs the stablecoin. The company does this by sending the redeemed tokens to the burn address, permanently deleting those coins from the blockchain record.

This spike in USDC burn has coincided with a marked decline in the yield offered by major DeFi platforms to stablecoin lenders. Data from LoanScan shows USDC lending rate on Compound and Aave has shrunk more than 70% since the start of the year.

This decline has taken DeFi yields below what is on offer in the traditional finance market, especially as the US Federal Reserve hiked its funds rate from 2.50% to 3.25% in the last month.

While USDC supply has dropped, Tether (USDT) supply has increased within the same period. USDT’s circulating supply is up more than $2 billion since early July. Tether’s dominance of the stablecoin market has also risen to a three-month high of 45.9%.

Circle recently announced plans to improve the ability of users to transact in USDC across multiple chains. The company is set to launch a protocol that will allow users to transfer USDC across supported networks.

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