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Stablecoin issuers added about $200 billion in Treasury holdings, San Francisco Fed says

Research cited across crypto outlets sets issuers' bill buying against a decline in China's holdings of US government debt.

Assembled by Claude from 7 sources at 6 outlets · Saturday, October 3, 2026, Morning edition, 10:25 AM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What the research found

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle added about $200 billion in Treasury and repo holdings binance.com. KuCoin reported the finding as issuers such as Tether and USDC adding approximately $200 billion in US Treasury assets over five years, offsetting more than 40% of a decline elsewhere kucoin.com. CryptoRank and CryptoSlate both framed it as stablecoin issuers replacing 40% of China's lost US Treasury demand cryptorank.iocryptoslate.com.

The two sides of that comparison are not the same size. CryptoRank put issuers' Treasury holdings as nearing $200 billion while China's fell toward $600 billion cryptorank.io. CryptoSlate contrasted China's roughly $600 billion in Treasury holdings with issuers' nearly $200 billion cryptoslate.com.

Why it matters to investors

The maturity profile is the point. The researchers said stablecoin issuers mainly buy short-maturity assets, while China's reductions ran over the same period binance.com. Altcoin Buzz reported that issuers predominantly buy Treasury bills and other highly liquid, short-maturity assets, and cautioned that a larger bill market does not necessarily follow altcoinbuzz.io.

Binance reported Tom Lee saying stablecoins are becoming integral to financial system liquidity, citing the San Francisco Fed research on issuers' increased US Treasury holdings binance.com. That is the structural claim under the numbers: a private, redemption-driven buyer has taken a place in the short-dated market previously associated with sovereign holders cryptorank.iocryptoslate.combinance.com.

What to watch

Concentration within the sector is high. Tether's USDT holds 61.0% of stablecoin supply tradingview.com. Ripple added $765 million to stablecoin market capitalisation in the third quarter, trailing only Circle, in a ranking where one issuer holds 0.5% of supply yet still placed in the top three tradingview.com.

Because issuer demand for bills is a function of coin supply, it can reverse as quickly as it arrived, which is the reason the maturity mix matters more than the headline total altcoinbuzz.iobinance.com. The figures to follow are issuers' reported reserve composition and the direction of China's holdings, the two series the San Francisco Fed work places side by side cryptorank.iocryptoslate.comkucoin.com. The five-year window in KuCoin's account of the research is also the window over which China's holdings fell, so the offset is a coincidence of timing as much as a substitution kucoin.combinance.com. Nothing in the reporting says issuers were buying because China was selling cryptorank.iocryptoslate.comkucoin.com. The claim in the coverage is narrower than the headlines suggest: issuers' purchases offset part of a decline, which is an accounting statement about flows rather than a statement about who sets the price of a Treasury bill altcoinbuzz.iobinance.com.

Sources

  1. cryptorank.io: Stablecoin issuers have replaced 40% of China's lost US Treasury demand - CryptoRank (2026-10-02)
  2. binance.com: Tether and Circle Add About $200 Billion in Treasury and Repo Holdings, San Francisco Fed Says (2026-10-02)
  3. cryptoslate.com: Stablecoin issuers have replaced 40% of China's lost US Treasury demand - CryptoSlate (2026-10-02)
  4. altcoinbuzz.io: Stablecoin Issuers Added $200 Billion in Treasury Holdings - Altcoin Buzz (2026-10-03)
  5. kucoin.com: San Francisco Fed Report: Stablecoin Issuers Add $200 Billion in U.S. Treasuries Over Five Years (2026-10-02)
  6. binance.com: Tom Lee Says Stablecoins Are Becoming Integral to Financial System Liquidity - Binance (2026-10-02)
  7. tradingview.com: Ripple Adds $765 Million to Stablecoin Market Cap in Q3, Trailing Only Circle - TradingView (2026-10-02)