Stablecoins Handled $35 Trillion in Transactions: What the Numbers Really Reveal About the Quadrillion-Dollar Payments Market

Last year, stablecoins processed over $35 trillion in blockchain transactions, yet this headline-grabbing figure masks a crucial reality: the vast majority of this activity had nothing to do with actual payments. According to research from McKinsey and Artemis Analytics, genuine stablecoin payments—including vendor settlements, employee payroll, international remittances, and financial market settlements—totaled just $380 billion. When measured against the broader $2 quadrillion global payments market, stablecoins still represent an microscopic 0.02% share, underscoring how much work remains to transform them into mainstream payment rails.

The $35 Trillion Illusion: Why Transaction Volume Figures Mislead

The striking gap between total stablecoin volume and real-world payments reflects a fundamental misunderstanding about what happens on blockchain networks. McKinsey and Artemis Analytics’ analysis reveals that the bulk of the $35 trillion moved within the stablecoin ecosystem comprises crypto-to-crypto trading, internal platform transfers, and protocol-level operations that never directly serve end users. This distinction matters enormously when comparing stablecoins to traditional payment networks like Visa or Mastercard, whose reported volumes genuinely represent consumer and business transactions. The stablecoin space’s transactional noise obscures its true utility, creating unrealistic expectations about current market penetration.

Breaking Down the $380 Billion in Authentic Stablecoin Payments

Where are stablecoins actually delivering value? The McKinsey-Artemis report identified three concrete applications: Business-to-business transactions dominate with $226 billion in annual volume, reflecting companies using stablecoins for cross-border payments and supplier settlements. Global payroll and remittances represent the second category, totaling $90 billion yearly—capturing the promise of faster, cheaper international money transfers for workers sending funds home. Capital markets activity, including automated settlement procedures, contributed $8 billion. These three channels demonstrate stablecoins’ emerging role in specific use cases, even as they constitute a fraction of the quadrillion-dollar global payments ecosystem.

Competition Intensifies as Incumbents and Crypto Firms Converge

The growing interest in stablecoin-based payment infrastructure has triggered competition among unlikely rivals. Traditional payment giants like Visa and Stripe are exploring blockchain-based settlement rails, while cryptocurrency natives Circle and Tether continue promoting their tokens as superior alternatives to slow and expensive international money transfers. This convergence suggests recognition of stablecoins’ potential, even if current volumes don’t yet justify the hype. The competitive pressure indicates that major financial infrastructure providers view stablecoin payments as a sufficiently important frontier to justify development resources.

The Path Forward: From Potential to Scaled Reality

McKinsey and Artemis Analytics emphasize that the limited current payments volume doesn’t diminish stablecoins’ long-term prospects as transformative payment infrastructure. Instead, it provides a realistic baseline for understanding the market’s current state and identifying requirements for meaningful scaling. Bridging the gap between the theoretical $2 quadrillion opportunity and stablecoins’ current $380 billion in authentic payment activity requires overcoming regulatory uncertainties, improving user experience, and building broader institutional adoption. The quadrillion-dollar global payments market represents an enormous prize, and stablecoins’ eventual contribution will depend on whether they can address these foundational challenges.