Stablecoins quietly hit a major milestone in 2025, and most people barely noticed. But behind the scenes, they’ve become a core part of how money now moves in the digital world.
Stablecoins — crypto tokens tied to assets like the U.S. dollar — saw massive growth last year. Clearer rules helped a lot. In July, the Trump administration pushed through stablecoin legislation under the Genius Act, giving companies and banks more confidence to step in.
Once that happened, adoption took off. Big names like Standard Chartered, Walmart, and Amazon began exploring their own stablecoin plans. What used to be a crypto-only tool is now being tested by banks, retailers, and tech giants.
The numbers tell the story.
According to Bloomberg, using data from Artemis Analytics, total stablecoin transaction volume jumped 72% in 2025, hitting $33 trillion. That puts stablecoins in the same league as the world’s biggest payment networks.
USDC led the surge, processing $18.3 trillion in transactions. Tether’s USDT followed with $13.3 trillion. Even though USDT remains the largest stablecoin by market value — about $187 billion, compared to USDC’s $75 billion — USDC saw more movement.
Why? Usage patterns.
USDC is heavily used in decentralized finance, where the same tokens are traded, lent, and reused over and over again, driving up transaction counts. USDT, on the other hand, is more often held for payments or as a digital store of value, which means it moves less frequently.
Another big shift stood out. Much of the activity moved away from purely crypto-native platforms. That’s a sign stablecoins are being used more in real-world payments, not just trading.
Anthony Yim, co-founder of Artemis, summed it up simply. He said this trend shows the mass adoption of digital U.S. dollars, especially at a time when inflation and global tensions are pushing people toward dollar-based assets. Stablecoins offer one of the easiest ways to get that exposure.
Regulators are watching closely. Groups like the IMF have warned that stablecoins could disrupt traditional finance. But the growth isn’t slowing down.
The final quarter of 2025 alone saw a record $11 trillion in stablecoin transactions. Looking ahead, Bloomberg Intelligence expects stablecoin payment flows to reach $56 trillion by 2030.
Quietly, without much hype, stablecoins are becoming the pipes that move money in the global digital economy — and they’re only getting bigger.
