Stablecoin-linked card spending climbed to a record $1.17 billion in September, surpassing August’s total even as transaction count slipped slightly to 11.0 million from 11.07 million, according to PaymentScan data. The resulting average purchase size rose to about $107, indicating that larger transactions—rather than a higher number of payments—are driving adoption.
On-chain data showed $788.9 million in September spending tracked directly across blockchains. Base led with $216.8 million, or 27.5% of on-chain volume, followed by Optimism at $127 million and Solana at $109.3 million. At the program level, RedotPay remained the largest tracked provider with $401.9 million in 30-day volume, ahead of EtherFi at $127.4 million and KAST at $113.1 million. Karta and Wirex One rounded out the top five.
Visa’s separate October data adds an institutional layer to the trend. The payments giant now supports more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs, with payment volume across those programs up nearly 200% year over year. Business and commercial programs accounted for roughly 17% of Visa’s stablecoin-linked card volume in fiscal 2026 year to date, showing that stablecoins are becoming a distinct corporate payments use case rather than a tool limited to crypto trading.
A pilot between Visa and Lloyds Banking Group highlighted settlement potential: Lloyds used stablecoins to settle $750,000 in payment obligations during a seven-day test, with funds reaching Visa in under an hour—including over a weekend. Visa also cited Allium research estimating broader annual stablecoin payment activity at $401 billion to $527 billion. Within business payments, service fees represented about $56 billion, payroll $43 billion and supplier payments $28 billion, while 43% of attributable B2B stablecoin volume was cross-border.
The expansion remains small relative to Visa’s overall network, and active addresses tracked by PaymentScan slipped to 283,761 from 287,634. The next challenge, according to the data, is converting rising stablecoin spending into durable financial relationships, including recurring expenses and primary-account behavior, while managing issuer, custody and compliance risks.
