Cryptoupdated 1h ago2 min read
Stablecoin Payments Jump 45% to $482B as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe Connect Crypto to Cash
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Stablecoin payment volume reached $482 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 45%. Stablecoin supply barely moved in 2026 while payments surged through Visa, Mastercard and Stripe.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Payments surge, supply stalls
Stablecoin payments rose 45% to $482 billion in the first nine months of 2026 even as stablecoin supply barely moved, according to blockchain analytics firm Allium. Allium said the total value of stablecoins in circulation stood at about $305 billion at the end of September, up 0.4% since the start of the year. Allium also said the number of payments jumped 71% to over 1 billion, suggesting stablecoins were changing hands more often without much new supply entering the market.
Allium reported that stablecoin-linked cards reached $3.9 billion through September, ten times the amount a year earlier, and that small purchases under $50 accounted for 84% of the increase in card transactions. Allium classified just $2.4 trillion, or 2.5%, of $97.9 trillion in raw stablecoin transfers through September as end-user activity after filtering out exchange, decentralized finance and automated transactions.
Visa, Mastercard, Stripe connect
Mastercard introduced its Global Money Platform with BVNK, and the service combined traditional currency accounts, stablecoin balances, conversions, card spending and bank payouts through one connection. Nuvei and Marqeta integrated Mastercard's new platform, and Mastercard's approach aimed to let banks and fintechs offer accounts that hold both fiat currencies and stablecoins. Stripe worked with Plasma on cards that support balances in dollars, euros, Brazilian reais, Mexican pesos and Colombian pesos, alongside eligible stablecoins, and the companies said customers would spend from the balance that matches their purchase.
Visa said it was bringing stablecoins into the funding side of international payments, and Visa said Inyo Global became the first provider to put Visa Direct's stablecoin prefunding service into commercial use. Inyo Global described the integration as giving money transmitters, fintechs and payment companies a new way to fund payouts that is available around the clock and runs through the same Inyo APIs they already use.
What the numbers mean
Allium's report titled “State of Stablecoins and Payments, Q3 2026” highlighted that transaction counts and card spending climbed sharply while stablecoin supply flatlined. Crypto Briefing said September set a monthly record at $72 billion in stablecoin payments, and it said the third quarter as a whole grew 51% from the same period a year earlier. Crypto Briefing said payments jumped 71% to 1.04 billion transactions over the first nine months of the year, while the average payment shrank from $544 to $462.
AMBCrypto said stablecoin payment volumes received by businesses increased by 37% from $179B to $246B, and it said businesses dominated 64% of the volumes. AMBCrypto said the overall stablecoin supply closed September at around $304B, and it quoted Ava Labs’ Olivia Vande Woude saying “$305B in stablecoins, and most of it earns nothing.”