The restriction of access to $USDT on regulated European platforms has not yet led to a significant global outflow from the largest "stablecoin." This is indicated by data from Artemis Analytics, as reported by Cointelegraph, as well as independent research by economists from LUISS University and the University of Surrey.
According to Artemis representative Alex Wesley, changes in European regulation have not caused a noticeable reduction in the supply of $USDT or a large-scale migration of liquidity between blockchains and trading platforms.
"The data does not indicate a significant change in the supply or demand for $USDT that could be directly linked to MiCA coming into force in Europe. [The regulation] has not caused a major migration between platforms or networks," he stated.
The conclusion of Artemis is supported by research from Nicola Borri of LUISS University and Kirill Shakhnov of the University of Surrey. The authors analyzed the consequences of $USDT restrictions on European crypto exchanges and concluded that MiCA has noticeably changed the trading structure on individual regulated platforms but has had almost no impact on the aggregate market shares and trading volumes of the largest stablecoins.
European Platforms Have Switched to $USDC
The effect has been noticeable on exchanges focused on the regulated European market. Following the $USDT restrictions, the share of $USDC relative to the pre-change period increased by 0.82 standard deviations, and the ratio of trading volumes for Circle's stablecoin to its competitor increased by 0.54 standard deviations.
The authors attributed this result primarily to the reduction in $USDT trading on platforms where the token was removed or restricted for European clients. However, they did not find comparable redistribution on a global level.
"Aggregate market shares and trading volumes remain almost unchanged," the study states.
This allows for distinguishing two effects of MiCA: the regulation has influenced asset choice within European-regulated services but has not yet led to a comparable change in the global market structure.
$USDT Retains Its Lead
Additional market data also does not show a sharp decline in the role of $USDT after the end of the MiCA transition period. As of July 31, approximately 183.46 billion $USDT were in circulation, with a market capitalization of about $183.27 billion, according to historical data from CoinMarketCap.
The independent Stablecoin Beat estimated Tether's share of the total stablecoin supply at the end of July at 61.2%. At the same time, the entire market contracted by approximately 1.2% over the month, so the slight decrease in $USDT supply did not occur in isolation.
These metrics themselves do not allow for measuring user "demand" in all its forms but do not indicate a global outflow from $USDT following the tightening of European rules. Even before the end of the transition period, data from Dune showed that $USDT and $USDC together accounted for about 83% of the global stablecoin market. $USDT remained the largest asset in the segment.
Activity is Growing Outside Europe
Artemis noted that the primary on-chain activity with $USDT continues to expand in regions outside the EU. According to the company's data, the number of daily users on BNB Chain increased from approximately 318,000 in June 2024 to 1.56 million in July 2026.
On Tron, the metric for the same period increased by 44%—to about 908,000 users per day. Wesley believes this trend more likely reflects the expansion of digital dollar usage in global and emerging markets rather than direct user migration from Europe.
"There is no clear inflection point in on-chain data coinciding with MiCA's timing," he noted.
Maintaining $USDT's lead in market capitalization does not mean dominance across all metrics. In June, the adjusted transfer volume of stablecoins reached a record $1.79 trillion. Approximately $1.21 trillion, or 67%, came from $USDC.
$USDT accounted for about $576 billion, or 32%.
Journalists explained the resilience of dollar token usage outside the EU, in part, by the expansion of use cases not directly related to crypto trading. They cited Argentina as an example: the local platform Lemon processed transactions worth $9.3 billion in 2025—60% more than the previous year.
The number of users conducting transactions increased by 70% to nearly 1.8 million, and the volume of operations with stablecoins grew by 45%. Lemon representative Ignacio Jiménez noted that digital dollars are increasingly used not only as a store of value.
"We are observing a shift from stablecoins as a savings tool to stablecoins as financial infrastructure," he stated.
According to him, demand is increasingly driven by payments, cross-border transfers, and receiving funds from abroad.
Within Europe, however, the regulatory effect remains significant. The transition period for crypto platforms under MiCA ended on July 1. Tether did not obtain European authorization for $USDT, after which a number of regulated services restricted access to the asset.
The Total Chaos of MiCA Licensing
Recall, for what awaits the market after transitioning to MiCA, read in a separate article.
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