Stablecoins are not only cross-border but also local! The total payment volume reaches $550 billion, with Asia supporting two-thirds of the transaction volume.

A16z’s latest report indicates that stablecoins have become a core financial infrastructure, with first-quarter trading volume reaching $4.5 trillion in 2026. Data shows C2B commercial activity increased by 128% annually, with the Asian market contributing nearly two-thirds of the payment volume.

The venture capital giant a16z’s latest “9 charts on what stablecoins are becoming” report uses nine key charts to depict the structural shifts happening in stablecoins. The core conclusion of this report is not about new tokens or narratives, but that the role of stablecoins is transitioning from “trading tools” and “savings vehicles” to “core financial infrastructure,” becoming increasingly localized, contrasting sharply with the market’s original expectations for cross-border payments.

U.S. GENIUS Act boosts stablecoin trading volume to $4.5 trillion per quarter

For years, regulatory uncertainty has been the ceiling for institutional participation in stablecoins. The turning point came with the U.S. GENIUS Act establishing the first federal-level stablecoin issuance framework. a16z data shows that adjusted stablecoin trading volume had been rising for several quarters before the bill’s passage, but after approval, growth accelerated significantly, reaching about $4.5 trillion in Q1 2026.

The European MiCA framework presents a different picture. After full implementation at the end of 2024, many major exchanges delisted USDT to comply, causing non-dollar stablecoin activity to spike briefly over $40 billion. After the volatility subsided, monthly trading volumes stabilized between $15 billion and $25 billion, well above pre-MiCA levels. In other words, regulation did not suppress non-dollar stablecoins; instead, it created a new normal market environment that was almost nonexistent before.

Fastest-growing commercial activity: C2B up 128% annually

The most structurally significant change lies in the use cases themselves. Throughout 2025, the total number of C2C (consumer-to-consumer) transfers remained dominant at 789.5 million, but the fastest growth was in C2B (consumer-to-business), which surged from 124.9 million in 2024 to 284.6 million, a 128% increase.

Data from stablecoin payment card infrastructure supports this trend. Rain-supported stablecoin card programs (including Etherfi Cash, Kast, Wallbit, etc.) saw monthly collateral deposits grow from nearly zero in November 2024 to over $300 million per month in early 2026. Although this is still collateralized balances rather than direct payment volume, the trajectory is clear: commercial use of stablecoins is expanding rapidly.

Money velocity doubles: from 2.6x to 6x

The turnover frequency per unit of stablecoin supply is accelerating. a16z’s stablecoin velocity indicator, which is the ratio of adjusted monthly transfer amounts to circulating supply, has nearly doubled since early 2024, rising from 2.6 times to 6 times.

This increase in velocity indicates that demand for stablecoin transactions is outpacing new issuance, meaning existing supply is being “used more actively.” This is characteristic of a real payment network—money is being “used” rather than just “held.”

Stablecoin pure payment volume reaches $350 billion to $550 billion

By stripping out transactional, institutional treasury transfers, and exchange operations—i.e., the “financial” flows—the estimated pure payment volume of stablecoins between different entities in 2025 ranges from $350 billion to $550 billion.

Structurally, B2B (business-to-business) remains the largest segment, but the growth rate of C2C direct transfers and merchant payment activities is also noteworthy.

Geographical distribution is highly concentrated: Asia accounts for nearly two-thirds

Geographical data shows that stablecoin payment activity is not evenly distributed. Asia contributes nearly two-thirds of the payment volume, mainly from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. North America accounts for about a quarter, Europe around 13%, and Latin America and Africa combined account for less than $1 billion.

This distribution has direct implications for fintech companies in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The real growth momentum for stablecoin payments is concentrated in the Asian time zone, which also means that the customer base, trading counterparts, and regulatory arbitrage opportunities for related players are different from those in the U.S. fintech market.

Cross-border narrative overturned: domestic transactions account for three-quarters

The most counterintuitive chart in the report challenges the mainstream narrative that “stablecoins are mainly for cross-border remittances.” Actual data shows that cross-border activity’s share of total payments has been declining rather than increasing. Domestic transactions’ proportion of total payments has grown from about half in early 2024 to nearly three-quarters in early 2026.

Brazil is a clear example. The locally anchored stablecoin BRLA, pegged to the Brazilian real, saw monthly transfer volumes grow from nearly zero in early 2023 to about $400 million in early 2026, driven mainly by integration with the local instant payment network PIX.

a16z interprets this as stablecoins finding a new positioning: not just as remittance or foreign exchange tools, but as “locally used payment media running on global infrastructure.” This shift in positioning has profound implications for banks, payment providers, and stablecoin issuers competing in the market.

• This article is reprinted with permission from: “Chain News”
• Original title: “Stablecoins are more than cross-border payments—they are becoming localized! a16z’s latest report: Asia supports two-thirds of transaction volume”
• Original author: Neo