Stablecoin supply stalls, but payments jump 45% as Visa, Mastercard and Stripe connect crypto to cash
While the total supply of stablecoins has remained stagnant, their utility in payments has surged by 45% over the past year. Major financial institutions like Mastercard and Stripe are increasingly integrating stablecoins into their payment infrastructure to facilitate global transactions.
Why it matters
The shift from stablecoins as speculative assets to functional payment tools indicates growing institutional adoption and real-world utility.
Stablecoin supply has barely budged this year, but the digital dollars already in circulation are doing more work in payments, according to a fresh report from blockchain analytics firm Allium.
Stablecoin payments are growing at a rapid pace, reaching $482 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 45% from a year earlier, the report found.
That growth contrasts with the broader stablecoin market. The total value of stablecoins — cryptocurrencies tied to fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar — in circulation stood at about $305 billion at the end of September, up a meager 0.4% since the start of the year, according to the report.
The number of payments grew even more, jumping 71% to over 1 billion, the report said, suggesting that stablecoins are changing hands more often without much new supply entering the market.
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