Stablecoin Payments Hit $9 Trillion in 2025, Rivaling Global Giants Like PayPal and Visa: A16z

Stablecoins have quietly become one of the biggest payment networks in the world, moving trillions of dollars on-chain and cementing their role in global ￰1￱ to Andreessen Horowitz’s State of Crypto 2025 report released Wednesday, these digital tokens processed $46 trillion in total transaction volume over the past year, a 106% increase from the previous ￰2￱ report described stablecoins as the clearest signal of crypto’s maturity this ￰3￱ total volumes include high-frequency financial flows rather than retail payments, the numbers are still staggering. A16z Says Stablecoins Are Closing In On ACH Network Volumes Stablecoin transaction activity now approaches that of the US Automated Clearing House, or ACH, the electronic backbone of the US banking system. 4 takeaways from the @a16zcrypto 2025 State of Crypto report: ￰0￱ ￰4￱ — a16z (@a16z) October 22, 2025 ACH processes most direct deposits, payroll and bill payments across American banks, making this milestone a sign that stablecoins are beginning to operate at the same scale as the infrastructure that powers traditional ￰5￱ an adjusted basis that filters out bot-driven or artificial activity, stablecoins processed about $9 trillion in the past 12 months, up 87% from a year ￰6￱ level represents more than half of Visa’s payment volume and more than five times PayPal’s.

Organic Growth Signals Shift From Speculation To Everyday Use Across Global Markets In earlier years, stablecoins were mainly used for crypto trading settlements. Now, they have become one of the fastest, cheapest and most borderless ways to send US ￰7￱ often settle in less than a second and cost less than a ￰8￱ report calls them the “backbone of the on-chain economy” as they power remittances, cross-border payments and decentralized financial ￰9￱ And USDC Dominate With 87% Share As On-Chain Dollar Usage Surges Usage continues to rise ￰10￱ adjusted transaction volume hit an all-time high of $1.25 trillion in Sept. 2025 alone, showing momentum that remains uncorrelated with speculative crypto ￰11￱ trend, A16z said, points to strong organic demand and growing real-world ￰12￱ supply has also surged to record levels , surpassing $300b.

The two largest issuers, Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), account for roughly 87% of all circulating ￰13￱ and Tron remain the main blockchains for settlement, processing about $772b in adjusted stablecoin transactions in September, or nearly two-thirds of global ￰14￱ dominated by these incumbents, new issuers and networks are gaining ￰15￱ are building stablecoins tied to local currencies and region-specific rails, expanding the market beyond US-denominated assets. A16z’s data shows stablecoins are now a meaningful macroeconomic ￰16￱ than 1% of all US dollars in circulation now exist in tokenized form on public ￰17￱ Now The 17th Largest Holder Of Treasuries, Up From 20th Place Last Year Stablecoin reserves collectively hold over $150b in US Treasuries, making them the 17th largest holder, ahead of many sovereign countries and up from 20th place last ￰18￱ comes as foreign central banks reduce exposure to US government debt and increase gold holdings for the first time in three ￰19￱ as global demand for Treasuries weakens, stablecoins are driving renewed appetite for dollar-denominated ￰20￱ all stablecoins are pegged to the US dollar, which reinforces its position as the world’s reserve currency.

A16z projects the total stablecoin market could grow tenfold, surpassing $3 trillion by ￰21￱ report concludes that stablecoins, once a niche trading tool, are now a pillar of digital ￰22￱ bridge the worlds of traditional money and blockchain networks, and for the first time, they are beginning to rival the payment giants that shaped the modern financial era.