Key Takeaways:
Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $1.79 trillion in June, up 63% from May's $1.1 trillion, according to payments giant Visa.
"This surge underscores the growing role of stablecoins as essential infrastructure for value transfer, liquidity provision, and decentralized finance activity that persists independently of speculative price movements," Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, said.
Circle's USDC dominated with $1.21 trillion, or 67% of total volume, while Tether's USDT accounted for $576 billion, or 32%. Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 network Base processed $565 billion, narrowly ahead of Ethereum at $562 billion. Tron ranked third with $320 billion. Visa developed the adjusted methodology with Artemis, Allium Labs and Castle Island Ventures to filter out bot-driven and exchange treasury-rebalancing activity.
The record surpasses the previous high of $1.78 trillion set in February and marks a 125% increase from June 2025, per Visa's Allium-powered stablecoin analytics dashboard. The data suggests stablecoins have matured beyond speculative trading into a foundational layer for payments, decentralized finance and cross-border transfers, even as the broader crypto market trades in a bear phase. Ruck predicted the trend would continue with stablecoins "maturing into a foundational layer of the Web3 economy."
Banks shift from 'whether' to 'how' on stablecoins
The record volume comes as global financial institutions accelerate their integration of stablecoin infrastructure. Standard Chartered and BNY, the world's largest custody bank with $59 trillion in assets under management, have expanded support for USDC, allowing institutional clients to mint and redeem the stablecoin directly through their platforms rather than building proprietary systems.
"The network is what creates the value. The stablecoin itself becomes almost secondary," Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic, co-founder and partner at Steakhouse Financial, said. Chainalysis estimates stablecoin settlement volumes could reach a quadrillion dollars a year by 2030.
European lenders are pushing to develop euro-denominated alternatives to prevent settlement activity from defaulting to dollar-backed tokens. Qivalis, a consortium of 37 European financial institutions, is developing the Euro On-Chain stablecoin under the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. "If we don't have a euro on the blockchain, the banks will use the dollar because it's there, it's available and it has a lot of liquidity," Qivalis CEO Jan-Oliver Sell said.
Meanwhile, Open Standard launched Open USD on Tuesday with backing from more than 140 payments, banking and technology companies including Visa and Mastercard, adding a new competitor to a market already dominated by USDC and USDT.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
