Circle Mints $3 Billion in USDC on Solana in 24 Hours
Circle’s latest issuance ranks among Solana’s largest single-day USDC mints, reinforcing the network’s growing role as a venue for institutional stablecoin liquidity.
Circle minted $3 billion in USDC on Solana during a single 24-hour period, marking one of the largest single-day issuances on the network to date. The transaction extends a broader 2026 trend of rapidly increasing USDC activity on Solana relative to Ethereum.
Issuance Accelerates on Solana
The latest mint follows a series of large Solana issuances that have often arrived in $250 million tranches tracked by on-chain monitoring services including Whale Alert and Lookonchain. In August alone, approximately $11 billion in gross USDC mints took place on Solana.
By late August, Solana’s circulating USDC supply had exceeded $8 billion, putting the network above 10% of global USDC supply for the first time. The pace of issuance has increased throughout the year:
- Circle minted $500 million across two transactions on June 8.
- A single-day issuance in mid-June reached $1 billion.
- On June 29, Circle issued $910 million on Solana while burning $250 million on Ethereum.
- Early September brought another $1.25 billion in mints over three days.
Gross issuance, however, should not be treated as net supply growth. Redemptions and burns occur continuously, meaning cumulative mint totals are substantially higher than the amount of USDC currently circulating on Solana.
Institutional Liquidity Moves Closer to Solana
The issuance pattern coincides with deeper institutional infrastructure around Solana-based USDC. In June 2026, BNY Mellon expanded its collaboration with Circle to support institutional minting and custody of USDC directly on the network.
That arrangement reduces the operational burden for institutions seeking access to Solana’s decentralized finance ecosystem. Instead of first moving assets from Ethereum through a bridge, eligible participants can obtain and custody USDC on Solana more directly.
The June 29 issuance and burn combination offers a useful view of the changing distribution of liquidity. Ethereum continues to hold the majority of USDC supply, but simultaneous issuance on Solana and destruction on Ethereum suggest that some demand is shifting toward Solana-native settlement and trading activity.
What This Means
Solana’s lower transaction costs and faster finality make it attractive for settling stablecoin transactions involving hundreds of millions of dollars. The latest $3 billion mint does not by itself prove that the full amount will remain in circulation or enter DeFi markets, but it adds to evidence that institutions are increasingly willing to place USDC liquidity on Solana.
If the issuance trend continues alongside custody and minting access from traditional financial firms, Solana could capture a larger share of USDC-based trading, payments, and DeFi activity. The key metric to watch next is net circulating supply, rather than gross mints alone.