Key Takeaways:
Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume reached a record $1.79 trillion in June 2026, up 63% from May and 125% from June 2025, per Visa's onchain data.
Circle's USDC accounted for about 70% of adjusted volume in the first half of 2026, with Tether's USDT at roughly 25%.
The first six months of 2026 totaled $8.82 trillion, already more than all of 2024's $5.8 trillion.
Stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $1.79 trillion in June, according to Visa's onchain analytics dashboard, up 63% from $1.1 trillion in May and 125% from about $795 billion in June 2025. Visa strips out bot activity and exchange transfers before counting, so the adjusted figure aims to reflect real economic activity.
The first half of 2026 totaled $8.82 trillion in adjusted volume, CoinDesk reported. That already beats the $5.8 trillion recorded in all of 2024 and sits $2 trillion shy of 2025's full-year record of $10.8 trillion with six months to go.
USDC Is Pulling Away From Tether in Volume
The share numbers are the story inside the story. Circle's USDC accounted for about 70% of adjusted transaction volume in the first half, with Tether's USDT at roughly 25%. In 2020 the picture was reversed, USDT near 90% and USDC under 10%, and by 2022 USDC had climbed to about 45%.
Why is the gap widening? Banks and financial institutions keep choosing established, regulated rails over building their own. CoinDesk notes banks have stopped asking whether stablecoins belong in finance and started deciding how to use them.
The pattern here is hard to ignore. Standard Chartered became the first global bank to offer USDC minting last week, and BNY added USDC as the first stablecoin on its institutional custody platform days earlier. The volume record is what that adoption looks like on-chain.
People Also Ask
How big is stablecoin transaction volume in 2026?
Adjusted volume hit a record $1.79 trillion in June 2026 alone, and $8.82 trillion for the first half of the year, per Visa's onchain analytics.
Is USDC bigger than Tether now?
By Visa-adjusted transaction volume, yes. USDC handled about 70% of first-half 2026 activity versus roughly 25% for USDT.
What is adjusted stablecoin volume?
Visa removes bot activity, exchange transfers, and other transactions that do not reflect real economic activity before calculating the adjusted figure.
Why are banks adopting USDC?
Institutions like Standard Chartered and BNY added services around Circle's USDC rather than building their own coins, favoring established regulated stablecoin networks.