Stablecoin Volume Surges Past $1 Billion as Card Networks Adapt

The stablecoin market has not achieved its intended goal of disrupting traditional card networks. Instead, new data shows that stablecoins are being used to fund cards, with a total volume of $1.084 billion in July, a 15.9% monthly gain.

This milestone marks the first time this figure has crossed the billion-dollar mark and is concentrated on cheap, fast blockchains rather than those dominating DeFi. TRON alone handled $311.2 million in stablecoin card top-ups in July, close to 30% of total identified volume.

USDC card top-ups jumped 46% in July, versus just 7% growth for USDT, data show. USDC now accounts for well over half of all identified top-ups and settles more than twice USDT's card volume.

Visa and Mastercard are building infrastructure to sit directly underneath the stablecoin economy. Visa launched its Stablecoin Platform on July 16, while Mastercard acquired BVNK, a company connecting fiat and stablecoin payments across over 130 countries.