Stablecoin Payment Statistics 2026: 41 Verified Figures

Updated October 2026. Every figure on this page was checked against its source in October 2026.

Stablecoin payments reached $482 billion from January to September 2026, according to Allium's State of Stablecoins and Payments Q3 2026 report. Over the same months, Allium counted $2.4 trillion in adjusted stablecoin volume and $97.9 trillion in raw transfers, so payment volume is a small part of what headline transaction figures show. USDT held more than 60% of the stablecoin market at the end of June 2026, according to Tether.

Key statistics

• Stablecoin payments totaled $482 billion from January to September 2026, up 45%, according to Allium.
• Raw stablecoin transfers reached $97.9 trillion from January to September 2026, and 2.5% of that remained as adjusted end-user volume of $2.4 trillion, according to Allium.
• Stablecoin supply was $305 billion at the end of September 2026, 0.4% above the start of the year, according to Allium.
• Payroll accounted for $43 billion and supplier payments for $28 billion of stablecoin payments from January to August 2026, according to Allium.
• USDT carried 84% of stablecoin payment value from January to September 2026, according to Allium.
• USDC in circulation was $73.3 billion at the end of June 2026, up 19% year over year, according to Circle.
• 13% of financial institutions and corporates used stablecoins in June 2025, and 54% of non-users expected to adopt them within 6 to 12 months, according to EY-Parthenon.
• Visa's stablecoin settlement volume passed a $20 billion annualized run rate in September 2026, up more than 15x year over year, according to Visa.
• Tether reported more than $5 billion in assets frozen through its work with authorities as of September 28, 2026, according to Tether.
• Circle froze 16 business wallets in a single action on March 23, 2026, under a sealed US civil court order, according to AMLBot.

How big is the stablecoin market in 2026?

1. Stablecoin supply was $305 billion at the end of September 2026

Stablecoin supply ended September 2026 at $305 billion, 0.4% above the start of the year, according to Allium's State of Stablecoins and Payments Q3 2026 report. Supply was close to flat in 2026 while payments grew 45%, so the same dollars are being used more often.

2. The Federal Reserve put stablecoin market capitalization at $317 billion in April 2026

Aggregate stablecoin market capitalization reached $317 billion as of April 6, 2026, more than 50% growth since early 2025, according to a Federal Reserve FEDS Note published April 8, 2026. The Fed and Allium use different methods, so the two totals are not directly comparable.

3. Stablecoin supply grew 49% in 2025

Stablecoin supply grew 49% in 2025, adding more than $100 billion and passing $300 billion, according to CEX.IO Research's 2025 stablecoin report.

4. Fifteen issuers now hold more than $1 billion in stablecoins each

Fifteen stablecoin issuers held more than $1 billion each at the end of September 2026, up from 11, according to Allium. Supply at Tether, Circle and Ethena fell during 2026, while other issuers added a net $6.9 billion.

5. More than 99% of stablecoins are denominated in US dollars

More than 99% of stablecoins are denominated in US dollars, and more than 1% of all US dollars exist as stablecoins on public blockchains, according to a16z crypto's State of Crypto 2025 report, published October 2025. For a business outside the US, a stablecoin payment is in practice a dollar payment.

How much stablecoin transaction volume is there?

Raw transaction volume counts every onchain transfer, including exchange, DeFi and automated flows. Adjusted volume screens those flows out to estimate end-user activity. Allium's screens leave 2.5% of raw transfers as adjusted volume, so check which measure a headline uses before quoting it.

6. Raw stablecoin transfers reached $97.9 trillion from January to September 2026

Allium counted $97.9 trillion in raw stablecoin transfers from January to September 2026. After screening out exchange, DeFi, infrastructure, automated, and mint and burn flows, 2.5% remained as adjusted volume, according to Allium's Q3 2026 report. Raw totals describe onchain movement in general; payment activity is measured separately in the next section.

7. Adjusted stablecoin volume rose 48% to $2.4 trillion in the first nine months of 2026

Adjusted stablecoin volume, Allium's measure of end-user transfers, rose 48% to $2.4 trillion from January to September 2026, according to Allium. Payments make up one-fifth of this figure.

8. Stablecoins recorded $46 trillion in total volume and $9 trillion adjusted in the year to October 2025

Stablecoins recorded $46 trillion in total transaction volume in the 12 months to October 2025, up 106%, and $9 trillion in adjusted volume, up 87%, according to a16z crypto's State of Crypto 2025 report. The adjusted measure filters out bots and other activity that inflates totals.

9. Stablecoin velocity rose from 2.6x to 6x

Stablecoin velocity, adjusted monthly transfer volume relative to circulating supply, rose from 2.6x in early 2024 to 6x as of April 2026, according to a16z crypto. A higher ratio means the same supply settles more transfers each month.

10. Stablecoins made up 30% of onchain crypto transaction volume in early 2025

Stablecoins accounted for 30% of all onchain crypto transaction volume between January and July 2025 and processed more than $4 trillion in that period, according to TRM Labs. TRM put the increase at 83% over the same months of 2024.

How much of that volume is payments?

Payment volume counts transfers between different parties, such as salaries, supplier invoices and purchases. It is a small part of adjusted volume and a far smaller part of raw transfers. Settlement-specific data is in our stablecoin settlement statistics.

11. Stablecoin payments reached $482 billion from January to September 2026

Stablecoin payments reached $482 billion from January to September 2026, up 45%, according to Allium's Q3 2026 report. Payments equaled one-fifth of adjusted volume over the same months. This is the figure to use when sizing stablecoins as a payment rail.

12. The number of stablecoin payments rose 71% to 1.04 billion

The number of stablecoin payments rose 71% to 1.04 billion from January to September 2026, while the average payment fell from $544 to $462, according to Allium. Allium attributes the growth to more frequent, smaller payments.

13. Businesses received 58% to 64% of stablecoin payments in 2026

Businesses received 58% to 64% of stablecoin payments from January to August 2026, and business-to-business settlement was the largest payment lane at $137 billion to $153 billion, according to Allium's September 2026 report. Most stablecoin payment value already lands with businesses.

14. Stablecoin payroll reached $43 billion in the first eight months of 2026

From January to August 2026, stablecoin payments included $56 billion in service fees, $43 billion in payroll and $28 billion in supplier payments, compared with $19 billion in retail purchases, according to Allium. Corporate operations lead payment value, and retail purchases are the smallest of these categories. For salary flows in more detail, see our crypto payroll statistics.

15. 61% of attributed stablecoin payment volume is domestic

61% of geographically attributed stablecoin payment volume from January to August 2026 was domestic, and business-to-business transfers had the highest cross-border share at 43%, according to Allium. Stablecoins now carry local payments as well as cross-border ones.

16. Stablecoins carried 0.31% of retail cross-border payments in 2025

Stablecoins carried an estimated $135 billion of the $44.3 trillion retail cross-border payments market in 2025, a 0.31% share, according to FXC Intelligence and Allium. In 2024 the share was 0.2%. Business-to-business penetration was 0.19%, compared with 0.95% for consumer-to-consumer payments.

17. McKinsey and Artemis put actual stablecoin payments at about $390 billion a year

McKinsey and Artemis Analytics estimated actual stablecoin payments at about $390 billion a year, roughly 0.02% of global payments volume, in an analysis McKinsey published in February 2026. Business-to-business payments made up about $226 billion of that total and grew 733% year over year.

USDC statistics

18. USDC circulation was $73.3 billion at the end of June 2026

USDC in circulation was $73.3 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2026, up 19% year over year, according to Circle's Q2 2026 results.

19. USDC circulation grew 72% in 2025

USDC in circulation grew 72% in 2025 to $75.3 billion at year end, according to Circle's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 results. Circulation was lower in mid-2026 than at the end of 2025, in line with Allium's finding that Circle's supply fell this year.

20. USDC onchain transaction volume was $14.8 trillion in Q2 2026

USDC onchain transaction volume was $14.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, up 151% year over year, according to Circle. That single quarter is far larger than Allium's adjusted volume for all stablecoins over nine months, so it reflects total transfers rather than end-user payments.

21. Circle Payments Network reached a $14.7 billion annualized run rate

Circle Payments Network reached $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume for the trailing 30 days to the end of June 2026, up 76% quarter over quarter, with 175 financial institutions enrolled, according to Circle.

22. USDC held 23.7% of dollar stablecoin supply in October 2026

On October 16, 2026, USDC accounted for 23.7% ($72.6 billion) and USDT for 60.0% ($183.5 billion) of the $306.0 billion in US dollar stablecoins tracked by DefiLlama. Together the two tokens account for 83.7% of that supply.

23. 83.4% of payouts at CoinGate were made in USDC in 2025

At CoinGate, a European crypto payment processor, 83.4% of payouts in 2025 were executed in USDC, according to CoinGate's Crypto Payments Data Report 2025. USDC's share of stablecoin payments on the platform reached 44.2% in 2025, after USDT was phased out under MiCA. In 2024 that share was 2.5%.

USDT statistics

24. Tether had $184.6 billion of USDT issued at the end of June 2026

Tether had about $184.6 billion in USDT issued at the end of the second quarter of 2026, about $446 million more than three months earlier, and held more than 60% of the total stablecoin market, according to Tether's Q2 2026 release. USDT grew slightly in a quarter when total stablecoin market capitalization fell.

25. 139.1 million onchain wallets held USDT at the end of 2025

139.1 million onchain wallets held USDT at the end of 2025, 70.7% of all wallets holding stablecoins, according to Tether's Q4 2025 market report.

26. USDT recorded 2.2 billion onchain transfers in Q4 2025

USDT recorded 2.2 billion onchain transfers in the fourth quarter of 2025, and 88.2% of them were under $1,000, according to Tether. Only 0.2% were above $100,000.

27. USDT carried 84% of stablecoin payment value in 2026

USDT carried 84% of stablecoin payment value from January to September 2026, and Tron settled two-thirds of all stablecoin payment value, according to Allium. A business that accepts stablecoin payments will receive mostly USDT, much of it on Tron.

28. USDT accounted for 82.3% of stablecoin trading volume in 2025

USDT accounted for 82.3% of all stablecoin trading volume in 2025, while USDC took 11.2%, according to CEX.IO Research. USDT's share in 2024 was 79.6%. Trading volume covers exchange and DEX activity and is separate from payments.

How many businesses and institutions use stablecoins?

29. 13% of financial institutions and corporates use stablecoins

13% of financial institutions and corporates used stablecoins, and 54% of non-users expected to adopt them within 6 to 12 months, in an EY-Parthenon survey of 350 executives fielded in June 2025. Financial institutions led at 23%, compared with 9% of corporates.

30. 41% of stablecoin users report savings of at least 10%

41% of organizations using stablecoins reported cost savings of at least 10%, mainly in B2B cross-border payments with US dollar stablecoins, according to EY-Parthenon's June 2025 survey.

31. 70% of financial institutions using stablecoins name cross-border payments as the top use

Among organizations that have used stablecoins, 70% of financial institutions and 55% of corporates named cross-border payments as their top use case, according to EY-Parthenon.

32. 70% of corporates would adopt faster with ERP integration

70% of corporates said they would be more inclined to adopt stablecoins if ERP integrations were available, and 56% preferred embedded APIs in their current treasury platforms, according to EY-Parthenon. Adoption depends on fitting into the systems finance teams already run.

33. 45% of institutional investors use or hold stablecoins

45% of institutional investor firms used or held stablecoins and 86% were using or interested in them, in the EY-Parthenon and Coinbase survey of more than 350 institutional investors fielded in January 2026. Among firms using or interested in stablecoins, 85% pointed to internal cash management and money movement.

34. Visa's stablecoin settlement passed a $20 billion annualized run rate

Visa's stablecoin settlement volume passed a $20 billion annualized run rate, up more than 15x year over year, and more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs ran on its network, Visa said on September 8, 2026. Payment volume on those card programs grew nearly 200% year over year.

35. 17% of stablecoin-linked card volume on Visa is business and commercial

About 17% of stablecoin-linked card volume on Visa in fiscal 2026 year to date ran through business and commercial card programs, Visa said on October 1, 2026.

How often do issuers freeze stablecoins?

USDT and USDC contracts include blacklist functions that let the issuer stop an address from moving tokens, according to AMLBot. For the rules behind these controls, see our readiness report on MiCA, the Travel Rule and GENIUS.

36. Tether reports more than $5 billion frozen in cooperation with authorities

Tether's cooperation with authorities has resulted in more than $5 billion in assets being frozen, including more than $2.4 billion connected to US authorities, Tether said on September 28, 2026.

37. Tether works with more than 340 law enforcement agencies in 70 countries

Tether works with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 70 countries and has supported more than 2,850 investigations, according to the same Tether release.

38. About $550 million in Iran-linked USDT was frozen in 2026

About $550 million in USDT was frozen in 2026 across wallets that US authorities linked to Iran's central bank and sanctions networks, according to Tether.

39. 7,268 addresses held $3.29 billion in frozen USDT as of October 2025

Tether had blacklisted 7,268 addresses holding $3.29 billion in frozen USDT across Ethereum and Tron, $1.75 billion of it on Tron, according to AMLBot data with an October 7, 2025 snapshot.

40. Circle had blacklisted 372 addresses holding $109 million in USDC

Circle had blacklisted 372 addresses holding $109 million in USDC in the same October 7, 2025 snapshot, according to AMLBot. USDT freezes exceeded USDC freezes by about 30 times in both address count and value. AMLBot notes that Circle freezes addresses only to comply with laws, regulations or court orders.

41. Circle froze 16 business wallets in one action in March 2026

On March 23, 2026, Circle blacklisted 16 Ethereum addresses belonging to operating businesses, including casinos, forex brokers and payment processors, in one batch action under a sealed US civil court order, according to AMLBot. One of the addresses was a public bridge contract, so the freeze also stopped USDC withdrawals for that bridge's users. A freeze aimed at one party can reach every payment flow that touches its addresses.

What this means for businesses moving stablecoins

Most stablecoin payment value now goes to businesses, and Allium counted $43 billion in payroll and $28 billion in supplier payments in the first eight months of 2026. On a public chain, each of those transfers shows the sending wallet, the receiving wallet and the amount to anyone who knows an address, including customers, vendors and other businesses you deal with. Hinkal Prime is the organization dashboard for private payouts: a payout with Confidential Settlement deposits funds into the Hinkal smart contract and associates them with the recipient's public address, so the recipient wallet does not appear as the on-chain receiver. Teams can pay hundreds of recipients from one file, with members preparing payouts and owners approving them. For a step-by-step view, see how to pay vendors in stablecoins without exposing your treasury balance.

For transfers, Hinkal Pay sends from the wallet you already use on Ethereum, Solana, TRON and major EVM networks. The send goes through the Hinkal smart contract, so your wallet does not appear on-chain as the sender of the transfer the recipient receives, and funds paid to a Hinkal deposit address are screened before they enter the private balance. Compliance stays in the same flow: Chainalysis KYT screening runs at entry, and viewing keys allow selective disclosure of transaction history to auditors or regulators when required. Payments are confidential, not anonymous. Read more about KYT screening at the point of entry.

Methodology

Figures were chosen for businesses that send, receive or hold stablecoins. Each one was checked against its original publisher on October 15 and 16, 2026, with its period and publication date. Where a publisher released a newer edition of the same metric, the newest figure is used. Forecasts are excluded.

Raw transfer volume, adjusted volume and payment volume measure different things, so they are reported separately, and figures from different methodologies, such as Allium, a16z crypto and McKinsey, are never combined in one number. Issuer and company figures (Tether, Circle, Visa, CoinGate) are self-reported and labeled as such. Each figure is attributed to its publisher in the line where it appears.

Frequently asked questions

How much money moves through stablecoin payments?

Stablecoin payments reached $482 billion from January to September 2026, up 45%, according to Allium. McKinsey and Artemis Analytics put the annual rate at about $390 billion in an analysis published in February 2026.

What is the difference between stablecoin transaction volume and payment volume?

Transaction volume counts every transfer. Payment volume counts only transfers between different parties for goods, services and wages. From January to September 2026, Allium counted $97.9 trillion in raw transfers, $2.4 trillion in adjusted volume and $482 billion in payments.

Is USDT or USDC used more for payments?

USDT carried 84% of stablecoin payment value from January to September 2026, according to Allium. USDC leads where USDT is restricted: at CoinGate, which phased out USDT under MiCA, 83.4% of payouts in 2025 were made in USDC, according to CoinGate.

How many businesses use stablecoins?

13% of financial institutions and corporates used stablecoins in June 2025, and 54% of non-users expected to adopt them within 6 to 12 months, according to EY-Parthenon. In January 2026, 45% of institutional investor firms used or held stablecoins, according to EY-Parthenon and Coinbase.

Can stablecoin issuers freeze business funds?

Yes. Tether reported more than $5 billion in assets frozen in cooperation with authorities as of September 28, 2026, according to Tether. On March 23, 2026, Circle froze 16 business wallets in one action under a sealed US civil court order, according to AMLBot.

Related reading

• 25 Crypto Payment Fraud Statistics 2026
• 24 Private Payment Blockchain Trends 2026
• 24 Multi-Chain Blockchain Statistics 2026

Learn more about Hinkal Pay.