$35 Trillion in Stablecoin Transfers Last Year, But Real-World Use Remains Tiny
TLDR
Stablecoins moved 35 trillion dollars in 2025, but only 380 billion were actual payments.
The volume destined for remittances, payrolls, and suppliers represents barely 0.02% of the global market.
Most of the activity is concentrated in cryptocurrency trading and internal transfers.
According to the latest report from McKinsey and Artemis Analytics, the digital financial ecosystem faces a contrasting reality. Although the total volume of transfers reached record figures, the actual use of stablecoins in payments such as remittances or payrolls constitutes only a tiny fraction of the total mobilized.
In 2025, a total of 35 trillion dollars was recorded on blockchain networks, of which only about 380 billion dollars reflected tangible economic activity. Therefore, the narrative that these assets are overtaking giants like Visa or Mastercard must be analyzed under a lens of greater technical rigor.
The environment in which this finding emerges is one of fierce competition, where companies like Stripe and Circle seek to dominate the cross-border payment infrastructure. However, the data shows that the bulk of the volume remains trapped in protocol functions and speculative operations within exchanges.
Challenges and growth areas for the payments sector
The analysis identifies three specific sectors where the digital asset already shows real utility: B2B transactions with 226 billion dollars, followed by remittances and payrolls with 90 billion. Additionally, capital markets contributed about 8 billion dollars in automated fund settlements.
Despite the modest figures, compared to the global payment volume of 2 quadrillion dollars, analysts maintain an optimistic long-term view. The clarification regarding the actual use of stablecoins in payments is not intended to dismiss the technology, but to establish a solid foundation for measuring its future scalability.
In summary, for stablecoins to achieve mass adoption, it will be necessary to simplify their integration into traditional billing and consumption systems. Only then can speculative volume be transformed into a value network that directly benefits the end user in their daily economy.
Filed under: News - @ January 24, 2026 2:27 am