2024-05-07
The growth of stablecoins has been remarkable since 2017, and projections suggest that they are set to surpass Visa in terms of total payments volume by the second quarter of 2024.
This milestone highlights the significant role that stablecoins are starting to play in the global payments landscape, particularly in the realm of cryptocurrency trading.
While Visa has traditionally been the standard for measuring payment volumes, stablecoins are quickly catching up, mainly due to their increasing use as a primary medium for trading cryptocurrencies.
Data shows that nearly 90% of stablecoin transactions are linked to trading activities, including a significant portion that involves wash trading - a practice that artificially inflates trade volumes through coordinated buying and selling.
It is worth noting that stablecoins are primarily used in the crypto trading sector, which may make the comparison of their volume with traditional payment networks like Visa somewhat misleading, as stablecoins primarily facilitate retail and commercial transactions.
According to a blog post from Visa, stablecoins are currently most useful within the crypto ecosystem, specifically for facilitating quick and seamless transitions between different cryptocurrencies.
However, the sheer volume of transactions facilitated by stablecoins is impressive. Currently, stablecoins handle $265 billion in volume with an active user base of 27.5 million monthly active users (MAUs), averaging out to approximately $9,600 per MAU.
The market cap of Tether, one of the leading stablecoins, stands at $110.86 billion, reflecting the substantial growth of the market.
This growing reliance on stablecoins, despite their primary use in trading, signals the potential for broader acceptance and integration into mainstream financial systems in the future.
