World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin has achieved a significant milestone by overtaking PayPal's PYUSD in total market capitalization, marking a notable shift in the competitive stablecoin landscape. According to the latest data, USD1 now holds approximately $3.88 billion in market cap, edging past PYUSD which stands at roughly $3.70 billion. This development places USD1 just outside the global top 25 cryptocurrency assets by market capitalization.
The surge in USD1's adoption has been significantly accelerated by a major incentive program announced by Binance. The exchange launched a four-week, $40 million WLFI airdrop campaign that rewards users for holding USD1 on eligible accounts through February 20, 2026. The program distributes $10 million in WLFI tokens weekly, with higher rewards allocated to users who employ USD1 as margin or futures collateral. However, participation is restricted in several jurisdictions due to regulatory constraints.
Eric Trump, in a public statement on X, framed this milestone as a broader signal about the future direction of digital money, emphasizing adoption and scale rather than speculation. "What stands out is that this transition happened without volatility," noted the coverage, highlighting that USD1's advance appears driven by sustained issuance and usage rather than sudden speculative inflows.
The shift in rankings represents more than just numerical movement—it signals changing dynamics in the stablecoin sector. While both tokens remain tightly pegged to $1, their growth trajectories differ markedly. USD1 shows modest positive changes across short-term timeframes, while PYUSD remains largely flat. This suggests that corporate branding alone is no longer sufficient to dominate stablecoin rankings, with distribution, integrations, and real-world usage emerging as decisive factors.
If this trajectory continues, USD1's rise could mark a broader reordering within the stablecoin sector, where newer entrants gain ground against legacy fintech-backed products through scale and utility rather than hype. The development occurs amid increasing political and regulatory focus on tokenized dollars in the United States.
