Lead · Stablecoin Fundamentals
On-chain settlement beating Visa plus Mastercard sounds like stablecoin payments have gone mainstream — but only 4% of U.S. merchants actually accept them at the register. These two numbers tell completely different stories.
Derek Tan
·
September 04, 2026
In 2025, on-chain Stablecoin settlement volume hit $33 trillion, surpassing the combined transaction volume of Visa ($16.7 trillion) and Mastercard ($10.6 trillion). That figure gets cited constantly as proof that "stablecoin payments have arrived" — but another set of numbers from the same period tells a completely different story: the share of large merchants worldwide actually accepting...