According to blockchain analytics firm Allium, stablecoin payments reached $482 billion between January and September, up 45% year on year. The number of payment transactions rose 71% to more than one billion. Total stablecoin supply, by contrast, stayed at around $305 billion, up only 0.4% since the start of the year. Spending on stablecoin-funded cards rose tenfold to $3.9 billion, with purchases under $50 accounting for 84% of that growth.
What it means: The data point to an important shift in how stablecoins are used. For years the market was measured mainly by total capitalisation, meaning how many tokens circulate, and those tokens were used mostly for trading on exchanges. This year capitalisation has been flat, but the same tokens are moving more often for real payments. The dominance of small card purchases suggests everyday use rather than only large transfers between companies. The figures still need careful reading. The definition of a payment differs between analytics firms, and $482 billion is small compared with card network volumes. Most of the activity also involves dollar stablecoins. For Europe, the question is whether euro stablecoins issued under MiCA will see similar use, or whether digital currency payments will happen mostly in dollars. That concern about monetary sovereignty is one of the ECB's arguments for the digital euro. For Greek merchants, these payments usually arrive through a card, so no change to their terminals is needed.
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