๐ธ Stablecoin supply barely grew, yet payment volume surged 45%? An Allium report reveals an unusual signal
On October 15, on-chain data company Allium published its *Q3 2026 Stablecoin and Payments Report* (data through September 30): stablecoin payment volume grew 45% in the first three quarters of this year, reaching $482 billion, while total stablecoin supply grew just 0.4%, to about $305 billion.
๐ Key figures
โข The number of payments grew 71%, to 1.04 billion
โข The average payment fell from $544 to $462, suggesting โmore frequent, smaller paymentsโ
โข September payment volume reached $72 billion, a monthly record; Q3 volume was up 51% year over year
โข Stablecoin-linked card spending totaled about $3.9 billion in Q3, roughly 10 times the same period last year
๐ How to interpret this
There wasnโt more money, but the same stablecoins were being used more frequently for transfers and payments. One important caveat: the report measures โpayments,โ which account for about one-fifth of adjusted total on-chain transfer volume ($2.4 trillion). Not all on-chain transfers should be treated as real-world spending. Also, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe announced their new services only after the data cutoff, so they canโt explain this growth.
๐ What this means for the market
Stagnant stablecoin supply suggests there hasnโt been a large influx of new capital from outside the crypto market. But rising payment usage indicates that stablecoins are evolving from โtrading chipsโ into โsettlement tools.โ
What do you think will drive the next wave of stablecoin growth: cross-border payments, or continuing to serve as a funding bridge for trading markets? Share your thoughts in the comments ๐
๐ Trade USDC: https://www.binance.com/zh-CN/trade/USDC_USDT
#Stablecoin payment volume grew 45% to $482 billion
#็จณๅฎๅธ #USDC #Allium
โ ๏ธ This is not investment advice. Please be aware of the risks.