Key points to remember:
- KelpDAO breach triggered outflows of $892 million, pushing Challenge TVL decreasing in April 2026.
- Attached USDT reached $189.78 billion and a 59.19% share, consolidating its dominance post-releases.
- Ethena USDe fell -34.39% to $3.82 billion, signaling a continuation of the trend. Challenge reassessment of risk.
Stable coin The market remains at $320.65 billion
Following the KelpDAO episode, the total value locked (TVL) on decentralized finance ( Challenge) contracted sharply, wiping out billions in just a few days. The disruption spread to several Challenge protocols, including Aave, where large volumes of users have unwound their positions, many opting for the stable coin exit route.
This behavior appears to match the seven-day contraction of $892.8 million recorded in stable coin metrics tracked by defillama.com. Attached USDT continues to dominate with command market capitalization of 189.78 billion dollars. The asset has increased slightly in recent days, recording an increase of 1.55% over the past week. This translates into an added value of approximately $2.89 billion, extending USDTleads the industry total of $320.65 billion.
Behind USDT Circle’s USDC stands at $77.79 billion, which has moved in the opposite direction, showing a weekly decline of -1.01%. This decline places the USDC reduction at around $794 million between April 19 and 26. stable coinSky’s USDS, representing a rebrand of the ecosystem formerly known as MakerDAO, now bears a market capitalization of $8.27 billion. The USDS has been on a downward trend, sliding -1.89% over the past week.
By simple math, USDS lost almost $159 million between April 19 and 26. Not far behind, the former Sky stable coin the product, DAI, remains at $4.67 billion market capitalization and broke away from some peers, posting a weekly gain of 1.55%.
Rounding out the top 5 is World Liberty Financial’s USD1, which stands at $4.39 billion. market capitalization and recorded the strongest weekly growth among the main stable coins with an increase of 4.34%.
USDe leads with $2 billion Stable coin Outings
While several assets excluding USDS and USDC saw gains, a number of other large-cap assets stable coins experienced notable capital outflows or supply contractions. The most significant change came from the USDe, which recorded a weekly variation of -34.39%, bringing its market capitalization up to $3.82 billion.
Ethena’s USDe lost just over $2 billion over the week as the KelpDAO fallout unfolded. Paypal’s PYUSD also contracted sharply, down -16.06% to settle at a market cap of $3.445 billion.
USDG followed with a -5.71% decline over the same period, putting its valuation at $1.114 billion. FDUSD recorded a more modest decline of -1.46%, bringing its market capitalization to $2.34 billion. Meanwhile, other stablecoins, such as FRAX and GUSD, also saw seven-day declines.
This week’s data essentially indicates that the market is still processing the shock rather than finding solid footing. Capital did not flow out indiscriminately; it was intentionally rotated, focusing more on dominant transmitters while exposing weaker structures to greater contractions. Whether the return to stability will depend less on price action and more on restoring confidence in the basic mechanics of DeFi in the weeks to come.
