✓ Official source
Allium: stablecoin payments jumped 45% to $482 billion through September even as supply barely grew
Summary
Allium’s State of Stablecoins and Payments Q3 2026 report finds stablecoin payments reached $482 billion from January through September 2026, up 45% year over year, while circulating supply rose only 0.4% to about $305 billion.
Payment counts rose faster than dollar volume — 71% to 1.04 billion — and the average payment fell from $544 to $462, Allium said, with September setting a monthly high of $72 billion in payment value.
CoinDesk, covering the report, said stablecoin-linked card spending measured by Allium hit $3.9 billion through September, ten times a year earlier, and highlighted the same week’s Mastercard Global Money Platform, Stripe–Plasma multi-currency/stablecoin cards, and Visa Direct USDC prefunding with Inyo Global.
Allium cautioned that of $97.9 trillion in raw stablecoin transfers through September, only about $2.4 trillion (2.5%) counted as adjusted end-user volume after filtering exchange, DeFi, infrastructure and automated flows, with the $482 billion payments figure drawn from that smaller pool.
Key facts
- Allium reported stablecoin payments grew 45% to $482B through September while supply grew 0.4% to $305B; payment count rose 71% to 1.04B and the average payment fell from $544 to $462.
- Allium said third-quarter payment value grew 51% year over year and September set a monthly high of $72B; agent payments doubled to 68.3M in Q3 while their value slipped to $3.7M, and stablecoin card spend grew 10x to $3.9B.
- Allium said supply at Tether, Circle and Ethena fell this year while other issuers added a net $6.9B, and that 15 issuers now hold more than $1B, up from 11.
- Allium’s abstract states that of $97.9T in raw stablecoin transfers, screens leave 2.5% as adjusted volume ($2.4T), and payments are about one-fifth of that adjusted volume ($482B), with Tron settling two-thirds of payment value and USDT 84%.
- CoinDesk reported Mastercard’s Global Money Platform with BVNK combines fiat accounts, stablecoin balances, conversions, card spending and bank payouts, with Nuvei and Marqeta among first customers.
- CoinDesk said Stripe is working with Plasma on cards that support dollar, euro, Brazilian real, Mexican peso and Colombian peso balances alongside eligible stablecoins, covering more than 30 countries with plans for over 100 next year.
- CoinDesk reported Visa said Inyo Global became the first provider to put Visa Direct’s stablecoin prefunding into commercial use, letting firms fund cross-border payouts with USDC near real-time while recipients can still be paid through conventional channels.
- CoinDesk noted Allium estimated second-quarter stablecoin-card spending was just 0.03% of Visa’s $4 trillion in payment volume.