- USDC demand spiked, driving an increase of around $4 billion in its market cap over 12 days.
- A trader revealed that OTC counters in Dubai significantly contributed to the trend.
Rami Al-Hashimi, an infamous crypto trader, revealed that stablecoins are experiencing a significant jump in demand in Dubai. He claimed that over-the-counter (OTC) transactions have been overwhelmed with USDC transactions.
USDC Market Cap Rises More than $4 Billion
According to Al-Hashimi, people have been queuing at OTC desks for stablecoins in Dubai this week amid the ongoing tension in the Middle East. He attributed the issue to the traditional financial systems’ vulnerability to geopolitical disruptions, which have led to bottlenecks and delays in bank wires. The difficulty amplifies with transfers going above six figures.
Given their 24/7 accessibility and the nonstop operations of blockchains, people are turning to on-chain finance to bypass the structural hiccups of the current banking ecosystem. The trader noted that most people transacting in stablecoins have specifically asked for Circle’s USDC.
During the escalation of the pressure in the region following the United States and Israel’s attacks on Iran that led to the death of the latter’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, USDC’s market cap indeed surged close to $4 billion. As Iran’s retaliation didn’t spare neighboring countries, like the UAE, due to their alliance with the US, the stablecoin’s overall valuation rose from around $75 billion on March 1 to nearly $79 billion this Thursday.
The trader pointed out that most people may not realize it yet, but USDC has become the “biggest underpriced catalyst in crypto right now.” Reinforcing his claim was the spiking transaction volume of the asset to over $11 billion in the last 24 hours heading to Thursday noon (UTC), with the metrics showing fluctuations between $4 billion and $18 billion over the timeframe.
Al-Hashimi’s insights even attracted the attention of Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine and co-founder of Fundstrat. The popular analyst described the trend as a prime example of the use case for stablecoin and crypto.
About Rami Al-Hashimi
Al-Hashimi has more than 165,000 followers on X. He made headlines last year for losing $3.7 million, accounting for approximately 99.79% of his portfolio in June, from his over-leveraged trades.
The event gained mixed reactions from the crypto community, with some sympathizing and others mocking him. Since then, forums have sometimes cited his huge losses as a warning to others.
As a result of the ordeal, Al-Hashimi vowed that he’s “never coming back” to placing leveraged positions on crypto. Despite the incident costing him three years of hard work, people remain attuned to his posts online, considering his experience a major reminder of the caveats inherent in the crypto space.
