Combined daily active address (DAA) data for USDT on ERC20 (Ethereum) and TRC20 (TRON) reveals a decisive shift in stablecoin usage patterns. From 2019 to early 2021, Ethereum (blue line) was the primary settlement layer for USDT. Elevated gas fees and network congestion, however, pushed both retail users and exchanges toward TRC20, which offers faster transactions and near‑zero fees.
By mid‑2021, TRC20 (orange line) had overtaken ERC20 and stabilized in the mass‑adoption range. The current 7‑day moving average (7DMA) for TRC20 sits close to 1 million addresses per day, dwarfing ERC20’s roughly 150,000 daily addresses. This distribution underscores TRON’s role as the retail, high‑velocity payment rail for USDT, while Ethereum increasingly caters to niche, high‑value transfers and on‑chain DeFi activity.
An anomalous spike in early 2023 pushed total USDT DAA (green line) to ~3.2M, likely triggered by major exchange wallet reorganizations, promotional airdrops, or bot‑driven flows. The metric normalized quickly, and since mid‑2023 the total 7DMA has remained firmly above 1.5M, with a mild upward bias.
This dual‑network equilibrium implies that a disruption — technical, regulatory, or liquidity‑driven — in either chain would have an amplified impact on USDT’s global settlement layer. Sudden shifts in the ratio of TRC20 to ERC20 active addresses may serve as an early‑warning signal for changing capital flows.
Chart Caption
TRC20’s 7DMA hovers near 1M active addresses vs. ~150K on ERC20, cementing TRON’s retail dominance in USDT transfers.
Written by CryptoOnchain
