Circle mints $750M USDC on Solana as capital shifts from Ethereum

Circle minted $750 million USDC on Solana on May 1, a move that increased USDC supply on that chain by about 20% and highlights significant capital migration from Ethereum to Solana. Wormhole bridge flows of roughly $2.1 billion from Ethereum to Solana in Q1, plus institutional activity (Société Générale’s €100M bond, Franklin Templeton’s $280M tokenized fund) and payment routing by Visa and Stripe, point to growing institutional adoption of Solana as an execution layer. Market implications: bullish for SOL price prospects and Solana adoption, but only a moderate/mixed impact on Ethereum’s outlook (Ethereum $10,000-by-2026 odds remain low at ~3.8%). Monitor transaction volumes, DeFi TVL, and further institutional integrations.