June Sets New Benchmark with $1.79T in Stablecoin Transactions
According to Visa's latest data, stablecoin transactions reached an unprecedented $1.79 trillion during June, representing a 63% surge from the previous month, with USDC leading the charge.
The adjusted transaction volume for stablecoins reached an unprecedented $1.79 trillion during June, representing a 63% jump from the $1.1 trillion recorded in May, based on data from payments industry leader Visa.
The stablecoin transaction volume achieved in June eclipsed the prior peak of $1.78 trillion set in February, and represents a 125% year-over-year increase, based on figures from Visa's stablecoin analytics dashboard powered by Allium.
June 2026 was another record month for stablecoin transaction volume, just ahead of February 2026
Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale
The substantial rise in transaction activity for stablecoins indicates expanding adoption for real-world applications including payments, decentralized finance operations and international money transfers as the underlying crypto infrastructure develops. This growth is particularly notable given the ongoing crypto bear market conditions, pointing to stablecoins emerging as a fundamental pillar within the digital asset ecosystem.
USDC has the lion's share of volume
While Tether's USDt maintains its position as the leading stablecoin measured by market capitalization, Circle's USDC commanded approximately 67% of transaction activity, processing $1.21 trillion throughout the month. USDT represented roughly 32% of the total, handling $576 billion in transactions, based on Visa's analysis.
In terms of transaction volume, PayPal's PYUSD ranks third among stablecoins, recording $2.42 billion during June.
Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 solution Base emerged as the most popular network for stablecoin activity in June, handling $565 billion in transactions, representing 31.5% of overall volume, with Ethereum mainnet following closely at $562 billion. The Tron network captured third place with $320 billion in volume, accounting for approximately 18% of total transactions.
In partnership with Artemis, Allium Labs and Castle Island Ventures, Visa developed a refined transaction methodology designed to exclude "distracting metrics" including high-frequency trading bot activity, exchange treasury rebalancing operations and repetitive smart contract interactions, enabling more accurate measurement of genuine stablecoin usage, according to the company's statement.
In related developments, the competitive stablecoin landscape welcomed a new entrant as Open Standard unveiled Open USD (OUSD) on Tuesday, backed by over 140 companies spanning payments, banking, technology and cryptocurrency sectors, with notable supporters including Visa and Mastercard.
Trend to continue as stablecoins mature
In conversation with Cointelegraph, Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, explained that the record-breaking volume illustrates how resilient these digital assets have proven to be despite prevailing crypto bear market conditions.
This surge underscores the growing role of stablecoins as essential infrastructure for value transfer, liquidity provision, and decentralized finance activity that persists independently of speculative price movements
Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research
According to Ruck's forecast, this upward trajectory is expected to persist as stablecoins "maturing into a foundational layer of the Web3 economy," with these assets well-positioned to achieve even broader adoption as digital currency markets continue their evolution.