Which Cash Balances Are Growing?
Compare US bank deposits, US retail money funds and global dollar stablecoins. See which is growing faster—not where the same dollars moved.
US bank deposits grew fastest over 4 weeks (+0.69%). Dollar stablecoins changed -1.14%. 1 of the three balances rose. This does not show money moving between them.
Shared comparison ends in the week of 2026-08-03–2026-08-09.
Latest retrieval: 2026-09-09. The slowest balance release sets the shared week.
Four-week balance growth
Bars extend left for a fall, right for a rise. Each starts at zero.
These are overlapping balances, not parts of one pool. Banks and funds are US-only; stablecoins circulate worldwide. Bank figures adjust for seasonal patterns; the other two do not.
Fastest now is not fastest forever.
Give each balance the same starting point. The lines show percentage growth over 26 weeks, not three amounts of money that can be added together.
Index
Index
US bank deposits grew fastest over 26 weeks (+3.95%). Dollar stablecoins changed +0.40%. 3 of the three balances rose. This does not show money moving between them. Over 52 weeks, Dollar stablecoins leads at +13.78%. The time window changes the reading.
Does the lead survive a longer window?
Choose the interval you want to test. Every comparison ends in the same shared week.
Weeks beginning 2026-07-06 to 2026-08-03
Bars extend left for a fall, right for a rise. Each starts at zero.
US bank deposits grew fastest over 4 weeks (+0.69%). Dollar stablecoins changed -1.14%. 1 of the three balances rose. This does not show money moving between them.
Growth can rise even as momentum fades.
A positive balance change and a faster pace are different claims. Compare the latest four weeks with the four weeks immediately before them.
Previous four weeks
Bars extend left for a fall, right for a rise. Each starts at zero.
Latest four weeks
Bars extend left for a fall, right for a rise. Each starts at zero.
US bank deposits: +0.69%, versus +0.11% in the preceding 4 weeks (+0.58 percentage points). US retail money funds: -0.29%, versus -0.43% in the preceding 4 weeks (+0.14 percentage points). Dollar stablecoins: -1.14%, versus -1.00% in the preceding 4 weeks (-0.15 percentage points). Faster balance growth does not establish more purchases of crypto assets.
A small balance can win the growth comparison.
These are balance sizes within the shared week. The US bank figure is a much larger base than global dollar stablecoins.
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Bank deposits relative to dollar stablecoins in the shared week.
A 1% change in bank deposits represents far more dollars than a 1% change in stablecoins. That does not make one a better investment. Some issuer reserves and fund assets can themselves sit in bank deposits, so a combined total would count some underlying money more than once.
Stablecoins have a newer reading.
The three-way comparison must wait for the slower release. The daily stablecoin record can still show what happened afterward.
Circulating value, $bn
Circulating value, $bn
Dollar stablecoins changed +1.36% after the shared week, reaching $310.17bn on 2026-09-08. This is a later observation, not a new three-way winner. Changes in circulating value are not proof of purchases of Bitcoin or other crypto assets.
Keep the dates in view.
Comparison weeks run Monday to Sunday. Fund observations fall on Monday, bank observations on Wednesday and stablecoin observations on Sunday; exact dates appear below. The table below shows each balance’s newest observation, which may be later than the shared comparison.
| Balance | Latest observation | Value |
|---|---|---|
| US bank deposits | 2026-08-26 | $19.56tn |
| US retail money funds | 2026-08-03 | $3.01tn |
| Dollar stablecoins | 2026-09-08 | $310.17bn |
| Four-week comparison | Start observation | End observation |
|---|---|---|
| US bank deposits | 2026-07-08 | 2026-08-05 |
| US retail money funds | 2026-07-06 | 2026-08-03 |
| Dollar stablecoins | 2026-07-12 | 2026-08-09 |
What this comparison cannot establish
These are overlapping balances, not parts of one pool. Banks and funds are US-only; stablecoins circulate worldwide. Bank figures adjust for seasonal patterns; the other two do not. Stablecoin figures measure the circulating value of dollar-pegged assets; price changes and coverage revisions can affect that value. “Retail money funds” does not mean all money-market funds. Changes in these three stocks cannot establish investor intent, spending, or transfers between them.
The comparison uses observation dates, not the dates when a trader first learned the figures. It is not a trading signal.
For yield comparisons, see Cash vs DeFi. For individual coins and dollar-peg risks, see Stablecoin Intelligence.
Ask a sharper cash question.
Compare size, growth or the change in pace. Answers use this saved edition and keep each balance separate.