Stablecoins aren’t just cross-border—they’re also on the ground! With total payment volume reaching $550 billion, Asia accounts for two-thirds of transaction volume.

a16z’s latest report says stablecoins have become a core financial infrastructure, with first-quarter trading volume reaching $4.5 trillion in 2026. Data shows C2B commercial activity grew 128% year over year, and the Asia market contributes nearly two-thirds of total payment volume.

The venture capital giant a16z’s latest report, “9 charts on what stablecoins are becoming,” uses nine key charts to illustrate the structural changes taking place in stablecoins. The report’s core takeaway is not about new tokens or new narratives, but about stablecoins’ role shifting from “trading tools” and “savings vehicles” to “core financial infrastructure”—and becoming increasingly localized. This is a clear mismatch with the market’s prior expectations for cross-border payments.

U.S. GENIUS Act Boosts Stablecoin Trading Volume to $4.5 Trillion per Quarter

For years, regulatory uncertainty has been the ceiling for institutional participation in stablecoins. The turning point came when the U.S. GENIUS Act established the first federal-level stablecoin issuance framework. a16z data shows that adjusted stablecoin trading volume had been rising for several consecutive quarters before the bill was passed; after approval, growth accelerated significantly, reaching about $4.5 trillion in Q1 2026.

The Europe MiCA framework tells a different story. After full implementation at the end of 2024, several major exchanges removed USDT from their platforms for compliance purposes, causing non-USD stablecoin activity to spike briefly to more than $40 billion. After the volatility subsided, monthly trading volume stabilized at a new baseline of $15 billion to $25 billion—far higher than levels before MiCA took effect. In other words, regulation did not suppress non-USD stablecoins; instead, it created a new normal market for them, one that previously hardly existed.

Fastest-Growing Commercial Activity: C2B Up 128% Year Over Year

The shift with structural significance lies in the use cases themselves. In 2025, the total number of C2C (consumer-to-consumer) transfers—7.895 billion transactions—remained the absolute mainstay, but the fastest growth came from the C2B (consumer-to-business) category, jumping from 124.9 million transactions in 2024 to 284.6 million, a 128% year-over-year increase.

Infrastructure data for stablecoin payment cards supports this trend. The stablecoin card programs supported by Rain (including Etherfi Cash, Kast, Wallbit, etc.) saw monthly collateral deposits rise from nearly zero in November 2024 to more than $300 million per month in early 2026. Although this is still collateral balances rather than direct payment volume, the trajectory is unmistakable: stablecoins’ commercial usage is expanding rapidly.

Money Velocity Doubles: From 2.6x to 6x

The turnover frequency of stablecoin supply per unit is accelerating. a16z’s calculated stablecoin velocity indicator—i.e., the ratio of adjusted monthly transfer volume to circulating supply—has nearly doubled since early 2024, rising from 2.6x to 6x.

Higher velocity means the market’s demand for stablecoin trading is growing faster than the pace of new issuance; existing supply is being “used more actively.” This is a characteristic of a real payment network: money is being “used,” not just “held.”

Stablecoin Pure Payment Volume Reaches $350 Billion to $550 Billion

After stripping out “financial” flows such as trading, transfers of institutional treasury funds, and exchange operating mechanisms, the estimated pure payment volume of stablecoins among different counterparties in 2025 ranges from $350 billion to $550 billion.

In terms of structure, B2B (business-to-business) remains the largest segment, but the growth rate of C2C direct transfers and activities related to merchants receiving and making payments is also striking.

Geographical Distribution Is Highly Concentrated: Asia Accounts for Nearly Two-Thirds

Geographical data shows stablecoin payment activity is not evenly distributed. The Asia market accounts for nearly two-thirds of payment volume, mainly driven by Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. North America accounts for about one quarter, Europe for about 13%, and Latin America plus Africa combined is less than $1 billion.

This distribution has direct implications for fintech players in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The real growth momentum behind stablecoin payments is concentrating in the Asia time zone, which also means that the customer base, transaction counterparties, and regulatory arbitrage space for relevant businesses are not the same market as U.S.-based fintech.

The Cross-Border Narrative Is Upended: Domestic Transactions Jump to Three-Quarters

The most counterintuitive chart in the report challenges the mainstream narrative that “stablecoins are equal to cross-border remittance tools.” In fact, the data shows that the share of cross-border activity in total payment volume has been declining, not rising. The proportion of payments coming from domestic transactions grew from about half in early 2024 to nearly three-quarters by early 2026.

Brazil is a clear example. In Brazil, the stablecoin BRLA, pegged to the Brazilian real, saw its monthly transfer volume rise from nearly zero in early 2023 to about $400 million per month in early 2026. The main driver is its integration with the local real-time payment network PIX.

a16z’s interpretation is that stablecoins are finding a new positioning: not just as remittance or foreign exchange tools, but as “local payment media running on global infrastructure.” This shift in positioning has profound implications for the competitive landscape among banks, payment institutions, and stablecoin issuers.

• This article is reprinted with permission from: 《Chain News》
• Original title: 《Stablecoins Are More Than Cross-Border Payments—They’re Becoming Localized! a16z’s Latest Report: Asia Supports Two-Thirds of Transaction Volume》
• Original author: Neo