Stablecoins Quietly Become Financial Plumbing

Stablecoins are often associated with trading, but their real impact is in the realm of financial plumbing. According to BCG and Allium Labs, public blockchains recorded more than $62 trillion of stablecoin transfers in 2025. However, only $4.2 trillion of this activity reflected genuine economic use, or about 7% of the total.

This massive gap between raw onchain volume and real economic use is a major challenge for the adoption of stablecoins. Despite their growth, stablecoins still account for only 1% of global payments, the same share reported in 2023 and 2024, according to OpenFX.

The growth of real payments is a different story. BCG found that real-economy stablecoin payments grew by 60% between 2024 and 2025. This usage is expanding because traditional systems remain inefficient in many corridors, and businesses and finance teams use stablecoins for international settlements, trapped liquidity, and high costs.

Incumbents have taken notice of the growing importance of stablecoins. Visa has seen its monthly stablecoin settlement volume pass a $3.5 billion annualized run rate as of the end of November 2025, and has launched USDC settlement for U.S. banks. The company's approach shows what infrastructure looks like when it works.