Payments made with stablecoins rose to $482 billion in the first nine months of 2026, while total supply grew 0.4% to about $305 billion, according to analytics firm Allium. The number of payments rose 71% to more than 1 billion, and the average payment shrank.
The stablecoin market has two stories, and this year they are pulling apart.
Payments made with stablecoins grew 45% to $482 billion in the first nine months of 2026, according to a report from Allium released last week. Over the same period, the total supply of stablecoins grew just 0.4%, to about $305 billion. The number of payments rose 71%, to about 1.04 billion, and the average payment fell to about $462 from about $544.
September set a monthly record of $72 billion. Third-quarter payments were up 51% from a year earlier.
Usage versus float
The gap between payments and supply is the point. If the amount of stablecoins outstanding is flat while payments rise, each dollar of stablecoin is changing hands more often. Higher velocity is good for businesses that earn a fee per transaction, such as payment networks and processors. It does little for issuers, whose revenue depends mostly on the interest earned on the reserves backing the tokens, which tracks how many tokens are outstanding.
Allium's figures show supply at Tether, Circle and Ethena declined during 2026, while other issuers added a net $6.9 billion. The firm says distribution is now where issuers compete, with some newer tokens sharing reserve income with partners.
Where the activity is
Most of the activity is not where U.S. payment companies are focused. Tron settled about two-thirds of stablecoin payment value, and Tether's USDT accounted for 84%, according to Allium.
Spending on stablecoin-linked cards rose about tenfold to $3.9 billion, and purchases under $50 made up 84% of the increase in card transactions. That growth is fast, but card spending in the second quarter was about 0.03% of Visa's roughly $4 trillion in quarterly volume, Allium estimated.
Last week, Mastercard, Visa and Stripe each announced new ways to connect stablecoins to traditional payments. On Monday, JPMorgan said it would make JPM Coin, its tokenized dollar deposit for institutional clients, available on Ethereum, putting a bank-issued alternative on the same rails.
A note on measurement
Raw stablecoin transfers totaled about $97.9 trillion in the period, but Allium counts only about $2.4 trillion, or 2.5%, as end-user activity, and classifies a smaller portion as payments. Those classifications rely on the firm's own methods, and its earlier estimate of the market gave a range rather than a single figure. The direction is clearer than the exact size.
Market implications
One reading is that this is real adoption. More payments, smaller tickets and a surge in card spending look like consumers and businesses using stablecoins for everyday transactions.
A second reading is that the data mostly describe offshore dollar demand. With Tron and USDT dominant, much of the activity reflects demand for dollars in markets outside the U.S., not the consumer payments that Western card networks are chasing.
A third reading concerns issuers. Flat supply, falling balances at the largest issuers and pressure to share reserve income could squeeze issuer margins even as usage grows.
What to watch
Circle's third-quarter results on Nov. 4, particularly USDC circulation and revenue sharing; volumes on Mastercard's and Visa's new stablecoin products; monthly payment data for October; and any growth in total supply. A rise in supply alongside payments would mean issuers start sharing in the usage boom.