Stablecoin users hit 300 million as payment apps push dollar banking

Stablecoin usage reached roughly 300 million unique on-chain addresses over the past 12 months, according to analytics firm Artemis, as payment companies and consumer apps push dollar-pegged tokens into mainstream banking across 122 countries.

"In the past 12 months, there's been over 300 million unique users of stablecoins, which is an absurdly high number," Patrick Kim of analytics firm Artemis said. "If you told this to someone five years ago, they would look you dead in the eyes and say you're bluffing."

The figure counts unique on-chain addresses transacting in stablecoins, not verified individuals — one person can control many wallets — but the direction is clear. The firms moving the tokens are increasingly payment companies and consumer apps rather than crypto exchanges. Stripe paid about $1.1 billion for stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge, Mastercard has moved to buy payments company BVNK, and Visa is building settlement on the same rails that issuers Circle and Tether run.

The shift matters because it separates stablecoin adoption from crypto market cycles. "There's somewhat of a crypto winter happening in terms of retail buying and selling of crypto, but stablecoin adoption is orthogonal to that," said Sami Start, co-founder of fiat-to-stablecoin onramp Transak. New US (GENIUS Act) and EU (MiCA) rules gave issuers a legal footing, and the money followed.

Regulation moved stablecoins from the fringe

The GENIUS Act that President Trump signed created the rules for how stablecoins should be managed, while Europe's MiCA framework offers "pretty clear and straightforward regulation" for the software built on top, said Ignas Survila, founder of dollar-banking app Rizon. Rizon operates as a front-end technology provider, working with licensed entities that sponsor their licenses, with US firm Rain issuing the cards.

Rizon claims 122 countries in 65 weeks — against roughly 47 for Revolut — plus 280,000 users and $120 million in annual payment volume, self-reported figures that are not audited. The demand it describes is concrete. "I'm earning similar money to an engineer in Europe, but I'm in Pakistan," said Matas Olendra, who leads Rizon's marketing. "My payments get declined. I want Spotify, I want to watch Netflix, I want to order things from Amazon, but I always get blocked."

The skeptic's case

Not everyone thinks these apps are as new as they look. Neo, who ran Alipay's overseas QR-payments push before launching onchain neobank UR, argues most stablecoin-first apps are a veneer on the same system. "Everyone's taking the easy way out. Easy USDC stablecoins, you issue a card, suddenly you're a neobank, and you can spend, and it's very cool. But structurally at its core, nothing's really changing."

That is the open question for the whole consumer layer: whether wrapping a stablecoin in a card is a genuinely better bank or just a cheaper way to distribute the same dollars. Raj Kamal, who runs Dubai cross-border firm TransFi, said the base is still small next to the opportunity. "Stablecoins are just about starting. We're just scratching at the surface of what is possible, because compared to traditional payments, stablecoins do very little volume."

Whether these apps become licensed banks or stay thin front ends, and whether Global South regulators keep tolerating dollar apps they do not control, will decide how far the 300 million number climbs. The issuers are betting it only goes one way. "Once you see there's an option out there, it's really hard to put that genie back in the bottle," said Brian Mehler, chief executive of the Bitfinex-backed stablecoin chain Stable. "It's pretty much out. They know there's a better solution, and I think it's going to stick that way."

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.