Stablecoins are used more than Visa and Mastercard… A new standard for digital payments

Stablecoins are rapidly emerging as the central axis of global internet payments. Analysis suggests they have established themselves as the undisputed 'basic layer of digital payments', recording more on-chain transaction volumes than major traditional payment networks. Noam Hurwitz, Head of Engineering at blockchain infrastructure company Alchemy, stated in a recent interview with CoinTelegraph that "stablecoin adoption is explosively increasing, and currently functions as the primary payment method on the internet". He emphasized that stablecoins are already 7% ahead of Visa and Mastercard in on-chain transaction volume, highlighting the rapidly changing landscape of digital financial infrastructure. In line with this trend, existing fintech companies like PayPal and Stripe are progressively integrating stablecoins into their payment systems. The advantages include faster and cheaper payments. Alchemy is a key infrastructure provider driving this change, currently supplying on-chain systems for Robinhood wallet and supporting payment technologies linked to stablecoins for Visa, Stripe, Circle, and PayPal. Hurwitz explained that stablecoins enable "cheap, fast, and globally secure transfers". Due to these attributes, their usage is increasing in cross-border payments and prediction markets, with steady expansion of real-world use cases. Platforms like Polymarket are also adopting stablecoins as a payment method. Notably, stablecoins are also emerging as major purchasers of US Treasury bonds. USDT held approximately $113 billion in US Treasury bonds last year, generating profits of around $13 billion. Hurwitz expressed optimism about the future financial ecosystem, stating that "financial innovation based on tokenized assets begins with tokenized money, or stablecoins".