Explosive Growth of Stablecoins: Transaction Volume Reached $35 Trillion in 2025

By the end of 2025, the stablecoin market recorded historic results and firmly established itself as one of the key segments of the cryptocurrency industry. According to industry estimates, the total on-chain transaction volume of stablecoins in 2025 exceeded $35 trillion, marking one of the most significant milestones in the development of fiat-pegged digital assets.

During the first half of 2025, stablecoin transaction volume surpassed $8.9 trillion, and activity remained at elevated levels throughout the second half of the year. However, the structure of these transactions indicates that the majority of on-chain volume was driven by exchange trading, internal wallet transfers, and technical operations within blockchain ecosystems, rather than direct payments for goods and services.

Despite the record-breaking total volume, real commercial payments accounted for less than 1% of all stablecoin transactions in 2025. Analysts estimate that actual settlement activity - including corporate payments, service fees, and cross-border transfers - reached approximately $390 billion. The remaining transaction volume consisted primarily of trading activity, liquidity provisioning, arbitrage, and the movement of funds across platforms and networks.

As of the end of 2025, the stablecoin market remained highly concentrated. Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) continued to dominate, accounting for the majority of liquidity and trading volume. USDT reinforced its position as the most liquid stablecoin and remained widely used across global cryptocurrency exchanges, while USDC continued to expand primarily within the institutional segment and deepen its integration into financial infrastructure. Other stablecoins held significantly smaller market shares and were mainly used in specialized use cases, including decentralized finance and Layer-2 solutions.

The growth in stablecoin transaction activity throughout 2025 was closely linked to the expansion of the Web3 and DeFi ecosystems. Stablecoins became the core settlement layer for decentralized protocols, supporting liquidity provision, automated smart contract execution, and complex financial operations. The expansion of Layer-2 networks contributed to lower transaction fees and higher throughput, further reinforcing the role of stablecoins within digital ecosystems.

Overall, 2025 marked a turning point for the stablecoin market. While the record transaction volume of $35 trillion highlighted the scale and maturity of the sector, it also exposed a structural imbalance between trading-driven activity and real-world payments. In 2026, market participants are increasingly shifting their focus toward expanding the practical use of stablecoins and integrating them more deeply into the global financial infrastructure.