Tallinn, Estonia — October 8, 2026 — New aggregated data from crypto payment platform NOWPayments shows stablecoin usage is shifting from trading toward everyday business operations, with SaaS and eCommerce partners now representing the majority of classified platform participants.
Between January 16 and July 16, 2026, SaaS and web services accounted for 27.78% of classified partners, while eCommerce marketplaces followed at 27.76%. Together, the two segments made up 55.54% of the sample, compared with 48.26% during the same period in 2025. That increase of 7.28 percentage points marks a 15.08% year-over-year rise in their combined share.
By contrast, trading's share slipped from 14.07% in 2025 to 13.15% in 2026. SaaS posted the clearest upward shift, climbing from 15.58% to 27.78%, while eCommerce stood at 32.68% in 2025 before moderating to 27.76%.
Other categories changed more gradually: financial services fell from 9.00% to 6.35%, gambling and iGaming rose from 6.20% to 6.87%, adult platforms increased from 4.99% to 5.89%, charity declined from 2.27% to 1.40%, and TGE/presale moved from 2.12% to 1.35%.
Network data also highlights industry differences. USDT on TRON represented 54.58% of measured successful payments within eCommerce marketplaces, compared with 12.04% in trading and 9.60% in SaaS and web services. That made USDT TRC20 roughly 4.5 times as prominent in eCommerce as in trading and 5.7 times as prominent as in SaaS. The share was 4.76% in gambling and iGaming, 1.85% in financial services, 1.49% in other, and 0.60% in charity.
Kate Lifshits, Commercial Director at NOWPayments, said businesses should define operational workflows before choosing a stablecoin and network. “The mistake is asking which stablecoin is best. The better question is: best for what?” she said. “Businesses should define the billing, checkout, settlement, payout, and reconciliation flow first. The coin and network should serve that workflow – not the other way around.”
The report emphasizes that stablecoin infrastructure should be built around billing, checkout, settlement, payouts, and reconciliation, with asset and network selection following workflow decisions rather than leading them.
