Arc (Circle L1 blockchain) wordmark, official brand asset from arc.io
Arc and HyperEVM lead stablecoin market cap growth by $1.2B in a single week
Circle's new Layer-1 blockchain and Hyperliquid's EVM layer are pulling serious stablecoin liquidity onto fresh infrastructure
Two relatively new blockchain platforms just vacuumed up more than $1.2 billion in stablecoin market cap in seven days. Circle’s Arc, a Layer-1 chain built specifically for stablecoin-native finance, contributed roughly $621.5 million of that total. HyperEVM, the EVM-compatible layer within Hyperliquid, added another $598.8 million. Together, they dominated stablecoin growth for the week ending September 22, 2026, according to Token Terminal data.
To put that in perspective, Avalanche, one of the more established Layer-1 chains, managed $128.6 million in stablecoin market cap growth over the same period. That’s roughly one-fifth of what either Arc or HyperEVM pulled in individually.
Arc’s launch came loaded
Circle didn’t exactly tiptoe onto the scene. When Arc’s mainnet went live on September 16, the chain launched with close to $649 million in USDC already deployed.
Over 100 ecosystem and institutional partners signed on before launch, including BlackRock, Visa, and Mastercard.
Arc’s stablecoin market cap settled at roughly $628 million shortly after launch. The chain has already integrated with DeFi lending protocols Aave and Morpho, giving it immediate utility beyond simple transfers.
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HyperEVM’s quieter but consistent climb
While Arc made a splashy debut, HyperEVM’s growth story has been building for months. The EVM-compatible layer within Hyperliquid’s ecosystem crossed $1 billion in stablecoin supply back on March 20, 2026, representing 96% growth since February of the same year. More recently, the stablecoin supply on HyperEVM has ballooned to around $5.8 billion.
Hyperliquid originally built its reputation as a decentralized perpetuals exchange. The addition of HyperEVM expanded that foundation into a broader DeFi environment where stablecoins serve as the base layer for lending, borrowing, and liquidity provision.
What this shift means for the stablecoin landscape
The risk, naturally, is that raw market cap numbers can be misleading without deeper usage metrics. Neither Arc nor HyperEVM has published comprehensive data on metrics like total value locked in lending protocols or daily transfer volumes during this growth period.