Are stablecoins safe?

A stablecoin is only as safe as its peg and its backing. It is useful ballast while it holds a dollar, but a break, called a depeg, can happen fast if reserves are questioned or liquidity thins. Ballast watches the peg of the majors in basis points so you can see stress before it becomes a headline.

What is a stablecoin depeg?

A depeg is when a stablecoin trades away from its target, usually a US dollar. A few basis points of drift is normal; a sustained gap of tens or hundreds of basis points is a warning that the market doubts the backing. On this page, on-station means within 50 basis points of a dollar.

What does a rising or falling stablecoin supply mean?

Total stablecoin supply is the cash layer of crypto. When it rises, capital is being minted into stablecoins, often waiting to buy; when it falls, capital is being redeemed out. Right now the tide is ebb, down 0.65% over 7 days.

Which stablecoin holds its peg best?

It changes, which is the point of watching it live. The buoy board on this page ranks the majors by how close each is to a dollar right now. It is information, not financial advice, and not an endorsement of any issuer.

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the cash layer

Ballast

Stablecoins are the ballast that steadies a portfolio, but only while they hold a dollar and only while the cash layer is not draining. This is the tide of stablecoin supply and a live peg board for the majors. Part of Safe Passage.

◉Live · DeFiLlama stablecoins

Cash layer$307.58Btotal stablecoin supply

7-day tide-0.65%-$2.03B · ebb

30-day tide

The cash layer holds $307.6B in stablecoins. Over the last 7 days it shed $2.0B (-0.65%), a ebb tide. 9 of 10 major stablecoins are holding station within 50 basis points of a dollar.

Peg buoyson station = within 50 bp of a dollar

USDTTether-9 bpon station$182.92B

USDCUSD Coin-2 bpon station$73.39B

USDSSky Dollar-2 bpon station$7.62B

DAIDai-1 bpon station$4.85B

USD1World Liberty Financial USD-11 bpon station$4.48B

USDeEthena USDe-15 bpon station$4.39B

Where the ballast sits

Ethereum50%$151.81B

Tron29%$88.96B

Solana5%$14.89B

BSC5%$13.71B

Hyperliquid L12%$5.98B

Base2%$4.78B

Arbitrum1%$3.67B

Polygon

Stablecoins, in plain terms

Are stablecoins safe?: A stablecoin is only as safe as its peg and its backing. It is useful ballast while it holds a dollar, but a break, called a depeg, can happen fast if reserves are questioned or liquidity thins. Ballast watches the peg of the majors in basis points so you can see stress before it becomes a headline.
What is a stablecoin depeg?: A depeg is when a stablecoin trades away from its target, usually a US dollar. A few basis points of drift is normal; a sustained gap of tens or hundreds of basis points is a warning that the market doubts the backing. On this page, on-station means within 50 basis points of a dollar.
What does a rising or falling stablecoin supply mean?: Total stablecoin supply is the cash layer of crypto. When it rises, capital is being minted into stablecoins, often waiting to buy; when it falls, capital is being redeemed out. Right now the tide is ebb, down 0.65% over 7 days.
Which stablecoin holds its peg best?: It changes, which is the point of watching it live. The buoy board on this page ranks the majors by how close each is to a dollar right now. It is information, not financial advice, and not an endorsement of any issuer.

Source: the keyless DeFiLlama stablecoins feed and supply charts (stablecoins.llama.fi). Supply is visible on-chain circulation, not audited reserves, and peg is the feed's current price against a dollar. See the full stablecoin board, Wrecks, and the methodology. Information, not financial advice.