Stablecoins were all the rage in 2025. The GENIUS Act provided much needed regulatory clarity for the dollar-pegged crypto tokens, and tech giants like Stripe and Sony got involved with their own related products and services.
President Trump has also reportedly profited handsomely from stablecoins and the crypto sector more generally,although the USD1 stablecoin he’s affiliated with has been at the center of serious corruption allegations. Additionally, Wall Street veteran Tom Lee made headlines by referring to stablecoins as crypto’s ChatGPT moment, echoing a report released by Citi earlier in the year.
The crypto industry often pointed to blockchain data to prove that 2025 was indeed a record year for stablecoins in terms of adoption.However, a new report from McKinsey Financial Services indicates the metrics used to show how much stablecoin adoption had increased in the past few years are extremely misleading.
Raw blockchain transfers are oftentimes pointed to as proof of stablecoin adoption, but the reality is only a small percentage of this activity—around 1% of roughly $35 trillion in total transaction volume—is actually related to real-world payments. This means stablecoin adoption, which the report estimates at $390 billion for 2025, only accounts for around 0.02% of global payments.
According to the report, B2B payments and international remittances account for most of the stablecoin payment activity, and activities such as crypto exchanges moving funds between blockchain accounts, automated activity with smart contracts, and trading on decentralized exchanges should not be included in payment measurements. The report also indicates around 60% of this activity is originating in Asia, adding, “Activity today is driven almost entirely by payments sent from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan.”
