Stablecoins are rapidly becoming the backbone of on-chain finance, with Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) 2025 “State of Crypto” report revealing $46 trillion in annual transactions, nearly triple Visa’s volume. Once viewed mainly as trading tools, stablecoins have evolved into a global settlement layer.
Even when adjusted for inorganic activity to $9 trillion, stablecoin throughput still outpaces traditional payment networks like PayPal, highlighting a major shift in global value transfer. In September 2025 alone, adjusted monthly stablecoin volume hit a record $1.25 trillion, according to a16z. Analysts noted that usage is increasingly independent of crypto trading volumes, signaling real-world adoption.
The total circulating supply of stablecoins has surpassed $300 billion, dominated by Tether (USDT) and USDC, which control 87% of the market. Ethereum and Tron handle roughly 64% of all adjusted transactions.
Macroeconomic impacts are now evident, with more than 1% of all U.S. dollars existing as tokenized stablecoins, while issuers collectively hold over $150 billion in U.S. Treasuries, ranking them 17th among global debt holders.
a16z calls this the year “the world came onchain,” with 40–70 million monthly active users and blockchain throughput up over 100x in five years, marking a defining shift for digital finance.
Image Credit: Pixabay
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