Stablecoin register: issuers, reserves and redemption

How to read the table

Type. Fiat-backed stablecoins are issued by a company that holds cash and short-term government debt against every token. Crypto-collateralized stablecoins such as DAI, USDS, GHO and crvUSD are created by protocols against crypto collateral, and there is no company that redeems them. USDe is a synthetic dollar that combines crypto assets with short derivative positions.

E-money token under MiCA. In the European Union, a stablecoin that references one official currency must be issued as an e-money token by a bank or an electronic money institution. “Yes” means the token is on ESMA’s list of authorized e-money tokens; the list, with every issuer, is on the MiCA license register page. USDT is not on that list.

Redemption. Most issuers redeem only for their own verified customers, often with a high minimum: $100,000 for Tether, for example. Under MiCA, holders of an e-money token have a right to redeem at par with the issuer. Everyone else sells the token on an exchange. For what happens in practice, read what happens when you redeem a stablecoin and USDT and USDC: reserves, redemption and access.

Supply. The supply column shows the figure the issuer publishes, in millions of tokens, with its date. On the dates shown, USDT had about 183.8 billion tokens in circulation and USDC about 74.7 billion. Some issuers, including Paxos for PYUSD, USDP and USDG, do not publish a live supply figure, so the field is empty.

For the rates platforms pay for holding stablecoins, see stablecoin yields. The table is checked against the issuers’ pages every week.