USDC Treasury Burns 51M Tokens on Solana Even as Stablecoin Demand Heats Up

Circle’s USDC stablecoin is facing a significant decline in its circulating supply as the USDC Treasury continues to burn tokens. As reported by Whale Alert, the USDC Treasury has destroyed about 51 million in tokens on the Solana blockchain as part of the platform’s efforts to manage the stablecoin’s circulation. This development comes as the demand for stablecoins heats up. 

USDC Treasury Executes $51M Token Burn

In a recent on-chain analysis, Whale Alert revealed that the USDC Treasury has executed a fresh token burn event, involving $51 million in stablecoin. This has brought a significant contraction in the circulating supply of the USDT tokens.

Token burns usually remove cryptocurrencies permanently from their circulation. This is seen as a strategic move to optimize supply, rebalance treasury holdings, or increase demand. Thus, such a token burn event could ultimately impact the cryptocurrency’s market dynamics.

According to on-chain data, the USDC burn event took place within the last hour, destroying 51,168,791 tokens, worth about $51,189,259. This move has reportedly reduced the stablecoin’s total supply to 76.26B USDC.

Significantly, the USDC Treasury has been burning the stablecoin over the past few days. The latest event comes on the heels of the 50 million burns on the Ethereum blockchain. On December 24, the team burnt $50M in stablecoins.

This burning event on Solana occurs just days after Visa launched USDC settlements in the US. As CoinGape reported, banks can use USDC on the Solana blockchain to settle transactions.

As USDC is pegged to the US dollar, its burning could have less impact on its price, but more signal market trends. A decline in supply could indicate softer on-chain demand, with users shifting to alternative stablecoins.

Minting Balances Burning: 90M USDC Minted on Ethereum

Interestingly, the recent burning events are partly balanced by the USDC Treasury’s token minting on the Ethereum blockchain. On December 27, the platform minted around 90 million units of USDC on Ethereum. While the Circle hasn’t confirmed the action, the minting suggested a strategic move to address the growing demand for the stablecoin.

This development followed another major minting program in which the USDC Treasury minted 60 million tokens. This indicates the routine nature of stablecoin minting, yet without any official word from Circle or its CEO, Jeremy Allaire.

Meanwhile, WhaleAlert data shows that the stablecoin issuer has burned 50 million USDC on the Ethereum network, following its minting of 90 million USDC on the network. While the reason for these transactions remains unknown, it comes amid rising demand for stablecoins. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle also faced increased competition from Ripple and WLFI, which issue the RLUSD and USD1 stablecoins, respectively. 

It is worth noting that the USDC Treasury’s recent token burns and mints coincide with the stablecoin issuer’s massive milestones in the 2025 Q4. For instance, Circle has gained regulatory approval in Abu Dhabi. With a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license from Abu Dhabi Global Market, Circle can now operate as a Money Services Provider in the International Financial Centre (IFC) of Abu Dhabi.