The US became a net importer of bitcoin this year while continuing to export dollar-backed stablecoins, according to Chainalysis. Institutions drive the inflow, while users abroad lean on tokenized dollars.
Chainalysis reports that the US turned into a net importer of BTC this year for the first time since 2022. At the same time, the country keeps exporting dollar-backed stablecoins around the world.
Institutions bring BTC into the US
The split between retail and institutional activity stands out in the report. Transfers below $10,000 remained net outbound, but larger transactions moved strongly the other way. The $10 million-plus bracket alone accounted for 53,200 BTC flowing into the country.
In other words, retail users send BTC out while US-based institutions bring it in. Chainalysis links the shift partly to the rise of spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have steadily increased the US share of global crypto activity since their launch in early 2024.
The report also fits a broader trend CryptoPotato covered earlier, suggesting BTC has increasingly migrated from exchange balances to institutional structures such as ETFs and corporate treasuries. That reduces the amount of units readily available on trading platforms.
Chainalysis also noted that the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has added another layer of implicit sovereign demand, despite no standing federal purchasing program yet.
Everyone else wants digital dollars
The report further indicated that 99.1% of stablecoin order-book volume is tied to the greenback. Chainalysis argued that users outside the US increasingly rely on such assets because they offer access to dollars without requiring an American bank account.
That dynamic feeds back into US financial markets, because stablecoin issuers typically hold reserves in short-dated US government debt.
Source: CryptoPotato
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