Stablecoin payments surged 45% to $482 billion during the first nine months of 2026, despite little growth in circulating supply. Major payment companies, including Visa, Mastercard and Stripe, are expanding infrastructure connecting digital currencies with traditional financial systems. These developments highlight growing demand for faster cross-border transactions and stablecoin-backed payment cards.
Stablecoin payments jump 45%
Blockchain analytics firm Allium reported that stablecoin payment volumes exceeded 1 billion transactions through September, representing a 71% annual increase. Meanwhile, circulating stablecoin supply reached approximately $305 billion, rising just 0.4% since January.
Card spending experienced particularly strong growth, reaching $3.9 billion, ten times the previous year’s level. Purchases below $50 accounted for 84% of the increase in card transactions, suggesting wider everyday adoption.
However, stablecoin payments remain a small portion of the broader market. Allium identified $2.4 trillion in end-user activity from $97.9 trillion in total transfers, with actual payments accounting for $482 billion.
Stablecoin adoption expands globally
Growing payment activity is encouraging Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe to expand stablecoin access through their global financial networks. Visa’s partnership with Singapore-based StraitsX enables stablecoin-backed card issuance in over 100 markets, after StraitsX’s annualised transaction value in Asia exceeded $6 billion.
Separately, Visa’s collaboration with Inyo Global supports faster cross-border payments using Circle’s USDC. Mastercard has introduced its Global Money Platform with BVNK, combining stablecoin balances and traditional banking services, with Nuvei and Marqeta among its early adopters.
Stripe is pursuing similar expansion through Plasma, supporting multicurrency and stablecoin-backed cards, with plans to reach over 100 countries. However, stablecoin card spending represented just 0.03% of Visa’s second-quarter payment volume. This suggests considerable room for growth as digital currencies become more integrated into traditional financial systems.
