Circle Mints $1.25B USDC on Solana Amid Post-October Stablecoin Surge

In accordance with Blockchainreporter, on Friday, Circle minted approximately $1.25 billion of USDC on the Solana network in the past 24 hours, as tracked by on-chain data from Lookonchain. This follows a broader trend of increased stablecoin issuance by Circle and Tether, who together have created around $17.25 billion in new stablecoins since the market turbulence began on October 11. The timing and scale of the mints have drawn attention amid a renewed scramble for liquidity and shifting market sentiment. Some reports suggest Circle minted over $2 billion on Solana across several days, with large volumes moving on and off chains rapidly. The flow of freshly issued USDC has become a key liquidity layer for exchanges, trading desks, and DeFi platforms. USDC’s market cap is now around $75–76 billion, while Tether’s USDT remains larger at roughly $184 billion. The surge in stablecoin issuance has raised questions about transparency, reserve quality, and systemic risk, especially as regulatory scrutiny increases. Solana’s high throughput and low fees make it a preferred chain for such activity, but also raise concerns about potential market disruptions if the network experiences slowdowns or outages.