Stablecoin payments jump 45% to $482B as supply stalls

Stablecoin usage is accelerating even as supply growth flattens: analytics firm Allium reports $482 billion in stablecoin payments so far in 2026, up 45% from a year earlier. Card spending is surging and global payment firms — Visa, Mastercard and Stripe — are connecting crypto rails to cash networks, per CoinDesk.

• The jump indicates higher velocity rather than new issuance, as stablecoins increasingly move beyond trading collateral into everyday payments.
• No breakdown by issuer, chain or region was disclosed in the report.