Analysis: Stablecoins still primarily revolve around crypto trading, and payment applications have yet to make a breakthrough

Deep Tide TechFlow News, April 13th, Kansas City Federal Reserve’s latest analysis indicates that stablecoins are primarily used for cryptocurrency trading and liquidity support in the current financial ecosystem, and have not yet become mainstream payment methods. The report shows that approximately 49% of stablecoins are supplied for trading liquidity on centralized exchanges, decentralized finance protocols, and extensive crypto infrastructure; 29% are used for transfers between wallets or internal fund operations; 21% are idle, with less than 1% actually used for real-world payments. The report believes that because stablecoins are designed as crypto-native tools, their inability to achieve large-scale payment applications is limited by cross-chain interoperability and connections with traditional financial systems. Although payment processors like Mastercard and Visa announced support for related technologies in 2026, stablecoin payment scenarios remain in the early stages, and future development needs to address key issues such as interoperability, compliance, and identity verification.