Circle has minted 500 million USDC! The Solana network has become the core engine for stablecoin rise.

Monitoring data shows that on December 22, Circle minted USD Coin (USDC) worth 500 million dollars on the Solana network. This is not an isolated operation, but rather a continuation of a sustained and large-scale capital migration that has been ongoing since October 11.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Circle has cumulatively minted 18 billion USDC on the Solana network.

01 Event Overview: Continuous Inflow of Capital and Market Signals

The crypto world is witnessing a silent yet massive capital migration. According to on-chain monitoring agency Onchain Lens, Circle minted 500 million USDC on the Solana network in one go on December 22.

This move is the latest example in a series of issuance actions following market fluctuations on October 11. Comprehensive data shows that since that date, Circle's total USDC minting on Solana has accumulated to 18 billion USD.

The large-scale issuance of stablecoins is often seen by the market as an important indicator. It usually means that institutions or investors are depositing USD with the issuer in exchange for an equivalent amount of digital stablecoins, signaling that capital is preparing to enter the crypto ecosystem for deployment.

02 Issuance Trajectory: A Continuous Liquidity Injection Lasting Over Two Months

Since mid-October, Circle has shown a significant acceleration and scaling trend in USDC minting on the Solana network.

Extending the timeline, we can see more clearly the scale and pace of this liquidity injection. On November 25, monitoring data showed that Circle's cumulative minting amount on Solana had reached 10 billion USD, indicating that an additional 8 billion USD was issued in about a month and a half.

The table below summarizes the key issuance nodes in recent times:

03 Market Interpretation: Why Solana?

Circle's decision to continue to massively mint USDC on the Solana network is no coincidence; it is a collective choice driven by performance, ecosystem, and traditional financial giants.

The Solana network is known for its high throughput and extremely low transaction costs, making it particularly suitable for financial applications that require high-frequency and high-capacity settlements. An ample supply of stablecoins is the “blood” that drives DeFi applications, significantly enhancing the total locked value and activity of the entire ecosystem.

The more critical driving force comes from the recognition of the traditional financial world. Payment giant Visa has announced that it will open USDC settlement to domestic banks in the United States through the Solana network.

This initiative compresses the traditional clearing rhythm that originally required T+1 or T+2 working days into 7×24 hours of real-time settlement, greatly improving capital efficiency. The annual settlement volume operating rate disclosed by Visa has exceeded 3.5 billion USD.

04 Price and Status: The Stability and Market Position of USDC

Despite the surge in issuance, as a core collateralized stablecoin, the price of USDC has maintained its consistent stability.

As of December 19, on the Gate trading platform, the spot price of USDC is 1 USD, with a 24-hour increase of +0.02%. Its total circulation is approximately 77.55 billion coins, corresponding to a total market value of over 77.57 billion USD. Historical data indicates that USDC has consistently been closely pegged to 1 USD, with a historical high and low of 1.17 USD and 0.8776 USD, respectively.

According to the market outlook analysis for 2025 released by Gate, USDC is fully backed by cash and short-term U.S. Treasury securities, and its 1:1 peg to the USD mechanism is the cornerstone of maintaining market confidence. The institutional adoption rate continues to rise, with large institutions such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs adopting USDC for cross-border settlements.

05 Ecological Impact: Significance for Solana and the Broader Crypto Market

The continuous “blood transfusion” of USDC first directly benefits the Solana ecosystem. Abundant dollar liquidity is a prerequisite for the development and growth of DeFi protocols, which will directly boost the activity and total locked value (TVL) of decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and other applications.

This marks a vote of confidence from the market in Solana as high-performance financial infrastructure. Secondly, for the entire cryptocurrency market, large-scale minting of stablecoins is a strong signal of capital inflow.

This indicates that after experiencing market fluctuations, a large amount of funds is being redeployed back into the crypto space through compliant channels, reserving “ammunition” for subsequent trading and investment activities.

Finally, this also reveals a profound transformation in the field of payment settlement. Traditional payment giants like Visa and Mastercard are actively exploring the integration of public chains and stablecoins into the existing settlement system. This is not a short-term experiment, but rather a clear signal of the global payment infrastructure migrating to a more efficient next-generation settlement layer.

06 Trading on Gate: How to Participate in the USDC Ecosystem

For investors and traders who wish to participate, the Gate platform provides a convenient channel.

Users can trade USDC/USDT spot and perpetual contracts directly on Gate. As of December 23 data, the real-time price of USDC/USDT spot is 1 USD, and the perpetual contract price is 0.9995 USD. Gate also provides a comprehensive USDC to USD exchange tool and real-time price charts, making it convenient for users to manage and convert their assets.

In investment strategies, USDC is often used as a store of value and intermediary currency in the cryptocurrency market due to its price stability. For novice investors, it can serve as a low-risk entry option; for experienced traders, it can be used for asset allocation and as a base for trading pairs in other volatile trends.

Future Outlook

On the Solana blockchain, an address named “7VHUFJHWu2CuExkJcJrzhQPJ2oygupTWkL2A2For4BmE” continuously records the minting transactions of hundreds of millions of USDC. These cold on-chain transaction hashes are quietly building a new financial frontier driven by code and consensus.

When Visa's annual settlement volume of 3.5 billion USD flows through this chain, and Circle injects 18 billion USD of digital dollars into it within two months, the transformation is no longer a prophecy. The payment interface remains the same, but the underlying logic of settlement is being rewritten.