Standard Chartered Predicts the Stablecoin Market Will Hit $2 Trillion by 2030. These Are the 3 Stablecoins Investors Need to Know.

As a group, stablecoins, which are crypto tokens that track the value of a fiat currency like the dollar, were worth a hair over $299.2 billion as of Oct. 28, up from $131.9 billion five years ago. In an Oct. 14 report, the bank Standard Chartered estimated that the stablecoin market will reach a total value of $2 trillion by 2030.

Of course, that deadline is two years later than when the bank first forecast the market would hit $2 trillion. As the market grows, it will likely create winners and losers along the way.

With that in mind, here are the three stablecoins that you should probably be familiar with if you plan to invest in crypto.

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Tether owns the biggest stablecoin globally

The three most important stablecoins that investors need to know about right now are Tether (CRYPTO: USDT), USDC (CRYPTO: USDC), and Open USD (CRYPTO: OUSD).

The market cap of Tether's stablecoin was $182.3 billion as of Oct. 28. That means it holds 60.8% of all stablecoin value.

But its reserves are slightly riskier than those of its peers. Tether's attestation indicates that it holds $114.9 billion in Treasury bills, $18.8 billion in gold, $5.8 billion in Bitcoin, and $13.5 billion in secured loans.

When gold and Bitcoin recently unexpectedly declined at the same time, Tether's excess-reserve cushion was cut in half, to $4.1 billion. That isn't necessarily a risk for USDT losing its price peg to the dollar, but a smaller buffer gives Tether less margin for error if a wave of redemptions forced it to sell its gold, Bitcoin, or loans in a hurry.

Regarding who receives the revenue generated by its yield-bearing reserves backing USDT, Tether keeps the interest, booking about $1.5 billion in Q2 2026 operating profit.

USDC is likely the safest stablecoin for most investors

Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) issues USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, with $71.2 billion in circulation and a 23.7% market share.

Compared to Tether, the reserves are less ambitious. About 84% of USDC's reserves were held in the Circle Reserve Fund as of June 30, per Circle's 10-Q filing, with the remainder held as liquid cash. The Reserve Fund is just a money market fund, which holds government debt maturing within three months.

So USDC's reserves are better built to withstand a run than Tether's. Nonetheless, USDC isn't flawless. Its value fell to $0.88 in March 2023 after Circle disclosed that it had held $3.3 billion of its reserves at the then-failing Silicon Valley Bank.

Importantly, the Genius Act, the 2025 U.S. stablecoin law, prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying reserve interest to individual holders, though the law may not prevent exchanges like Coinbase Global from passing rewards to customers. Circle's reserves yielded 3.5% in Q2 2026, and owners of Circle Internet Group stock technically have a claim to that income. Furthermore, Coinbase collects about half of USDC's reserve income as one of the coin's distribution partners, which is why it promotes USDC so heavily.

Open USD gives its yield to the businesses that spread it

Open USD is a syndicate stablecoin, which means that many different financial institutions and businesses distribute it, each earning a cut of its reserve income based on how many coins it mints.

It's also the newest major stablecoin, launching on Sept. 30. As it's so new, there's only $835 million in circulation, though that total is likely to continue to increase. A company called Bridge, owned by Stripe, issues the coin, and its reserves are held at major financial institutions, with Bridge expected to publish monthly attestations.

For now, it's mostly a competitor to USDT and USDC, even though many of USDC's distribution partners, like Coinbase, are also part of the syndicate backing OUSD, allowing Coinbase to collect reserve income from both coins.

Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.