USDC, Circle’s once-battered stablecoin, has finally officially pulled off a full recovery from the disaster of FTX’s collapse. Its market cap is back at $56.2 billion, matching what it was before the crypto giant fell apart in November 2022.
At some point in early 2023, USDC actually tumbled all the way to $24.5 billion. Unlike its rival, Tether’s USDT, which hit recovery mode in April 2024, USDC took a long way back.
Now crypto markets have been enjoying a boost since Donald Trump returned to the White House, with his pro-crypto executive order helping stablecoins make serious gains.
AD
The order, which was signed on Jan. 24, talked about supporting dollar-backed stablecoins to “promote the growth of lawful and legitimate” financial tools globally.
In November 2022, when FTX filed for bankruptcy, the panic among investors was immediate.
Over $6 billion in USDC was redeemed within 72 hours, causing its market cap to shrink from $44.5 billion to $38 billion in a flash. People wanted liquidity, and USDC was one of the fastest routes back to dollars.
Circle couldn’t even catch its breath before Binance made things worse. From September 2022 to February 2023, Binance automatically converted users’ USDC balances into its own stablecoin, BUSD.
That wiped out over $3.7 billion in exchange-held USDC, cutting off liquidity until Binance walked back its policy in early 2023.
Then March 2023 happened.
Circle was caught in the crossfire of yet another collapse; that of Silicon Valley Bank. This bank had $3.3 billion of their cash reserves tied up in SVB when the bank went under. For a brief but brutal moment, USDC’s peg broke and the stablecoin dropped all the way to $0.8 on March 11.
By the time 2023 wrapped up, USDC had hit rock bottom at $24.5 billion. Circle was down but not out.
The company launched an aggressive recovery plan, backed by strategic partnerships, regulatory engagement, and a focus on boosting liquidity.
By January 2024, USDC had climbed back to a market cap of $35.7 billion. Just one year later, in February 2025, it hit $56.2 billion, finally back to pre-FTX levels.
One of the key drivers of this recovery was institutional adoption.
Big-money investors started choosing USDC over USDT, with daily transactions surging from 23,450 in early 2024 to over 51,000 by 2025. Ethereum network volumes doubled from $2.3 billion to $4.5 billion per month, and transactions on Polygon more than doubled.
Meanwhile, US lawmakers did their part by introducing a stablecoin regulation bill in January 2025.
The bill requires stablecoin issuers to be officially licensed as “permitted payment stablecoin issuers.” Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. French Hill and Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Rep. Bryan Steil led the bipartisan push.
In other Crypto news, several overseas cryptocurrency exchanges’ applications were abruptly removed from Japanese mobile app stores.
The exchanges confirmed to have been removed include Bybit, Bitget, MEXC, KuCoin, and LBank. Should users in Japan try to download these apps from the official website, they get a message that says, “This application is currently not available in this country or region.”
Additionally, when entering the names of these exchanges in the search bar, no related applications could be found, which means new users will be unable to create accounts.
The FSA announced new tax reforms for 2025. The new laws will treat crypto assets with the same standards as traditional financial assets.
On February 6, reports emerged that several cryptocurrency exchange apps were hidden from Apple’s Japanese App Store. Google, on the other hand, has yet to respond to the FSA’s demands as of this report.
The Financial Services Agency had already sent letters warning the affected exchanges for operating cryptocurrency exchanges without registration in Japan. KuCoin, Bitcastle, Bybit, MEXC Global, and Bitget received their letters in November 2023, while LBank heard from the regulator in June 2023.
For some reason, Bitcastle is still available for download, even though it also received a warning. One report speculated that it may be because the exchange seems to now be abiding by the FSA’s rules.
Another cryptocurrency app still available on the App Store is Gate.io, which acquired domestic cryptocurrency exchange Coin Master in December last year.
Bitforex also received a warning in 2023, and it no longer appears when searched on the App Store.
Bybit released a circular to assure its Japanese clients that all is well. However, local reports confirm that the app has been removed from the Apple App Store.
If the apps don’t return to the app stores, it is very likely that users will not be able to update the affected crypto exchange apps.
This incident is being viewed as concrete action by Japanese financial regulatory authorities to pay more attention to the supervision of unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges.
The Japanese government has maintained its plan to protect investors’ rights and regulate the financial market.
Japan’s regulatory approach to cryptocurrency is considerably more cautious compared to other Asian markets.
Unlike Hong Kong, which has already approved spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Japanese regulators remain cautious, expressing concerns over the volatility and associated risks of the underlying crypto assets behind these ETFs.
Notably, industry stakeholders do not believe the FSA’s action is part of a crackdown on retail cryptocurrency investing.
A JULISHA.CO.KE blockchain analyst, opines this isn’t about shutting down crypto investing. It’s about drawing a line in the sand and saying, If you want to play in our market, you’ve got to play by our rules.