Стейблкоины становятся основой криптоиндустрии: объем транзакций достиг $46 трлн Headline: Stablecoins Become the Backbone of the Crypto Industry: Transaction Volume Reaches $46 Trillion

Since January, the transaction volume involving «stablecoins» has hit $46 trillion, marking a 106% increase compared to the same timeframe last year. Analysts from a16z Crypto highlighted the proliferation of stablecoins as a key indicator of the cryptocurrency industry’s maturity.

«Nothing signals the sector’s maturation like the rise of fiat-pegged tokens. In previous years, they were mainly utilized for speculative crypto transactions, but they have now become the fastest, cheapest, and most global means of transferring dollars — in under one second and for less than one cent to almost any location worldwide,» the report states.

When excluding bot activity and fake transactions, the turnover of stablecoins amounted to $9 trillion, nearly half of Visa’s figures and five times that of PayPal.

Monthly volumes continue to set records, with September reaching $1.25 trillion.

Experts emphasized that this activity has shown little correlation with the overall trading volume in the crypto market. They suggest this confirms a shift from speculative use of stablecoins to real-world applications.

The total market capitalization of the sector has surpassed $300 billion. USDT and USDC account for 87% of the market. Meanwhile, 64% of transactions are conducted on the Ethereum and TRON networks.

Stablecoins have «become a significant macroeconomic force,» analysts noted. Over 1% of the U.S. dollar money supply now exists in the form of stablecoins.

The issuers Tether and Circle rank 17th among the largest holders of U.S. government bonds, with investments exceeding $150 billion.

Analysts also pointed out that the number of active cryptocurrency users worldwide reaches between 40 to 70 million, reflecting a 10 million increase since 2024. In total, more than 716 million people own digital assets.

Previously, Tether reported that the number of USDT users had reached 500 million.

The global economy is increasingly shifting into the blockchain space — ranging from tokenized assets to decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN).

«The on-chain economy has evolved from a niche platform for enthusiasts to a multifaceted market with millions of participants monthly,» states the a16z report.

One in five spot trades now occurs on decentralized exchanges. Amid the popularity of Hyperliquid and Aster, trading volumes for perpetual contracts have skyrocketed eightfold over the year. Such platforms are generating over $1 billion annually, positioning them alongside CEX.

The RWA market, which has become a «bridge between cryptocurrencies and traditional finance,» has reached $30 billion, a fourfold increase in a year.

Analysts paid particular attention to the rapid evolution of DePIN, citing the Helium network as an example, which provides 5G coverage for 1.4 million users through 111,000 hotspots. Projections suggest that by 2028, the sector’s market cap will grow to $3.5 trillion.

Institutional adoption is also on the rise. Experts highlighted that several giants from traditional finance — Citigroup, JPMorgan, Mastercard, and Visa — have announced the launch of crypto products.

Meanwhile, exchange-traded funds based on cryptocurrencies have attracted $175 billion, reflecting a 169% year-over-year growth. Treasury companies have accumulated 4% of the total supply of Bitcoin and Ethereum, initiating a new trend in the industry.

The throughput of major networks has increased a hundredfold over five years — reaching 3,400 transactions per second. According to experts, this progress makes the blockchain infrastructure ready to meet global demand.

Current processing capabilities are comparable to Nasdaq’s transaction volumes on peak trading days or Stripe’s global processing capacity on «Black» Friday. At the same time, transaction costs have plummeted to historic lows: in layer-2 networks based on Ethereum, fees have decreased from $24 in 2021 to less than one cent today.

Analysts noted that privacy has returned to the forefront. Searches related to privacy spiked in 2025, which also explains the excitement around Zcash and the creation of a new privacy protection team by the Ethereum Foundation.

Furthermore, experts observed rapid developments in zero-knowledge systems, blockchain transitions to post-quantum cryptography, and the convergence of cryptocurrencies with artificial intelligence.

In August, a16z specialists identified a way to maintain privacy without compromising security.