Visa is expanding its stablecoin services through a partnership with Anchorage Digital, strengthening the connection between blockchain-based assets and traditional payment infrastructure. The collaboration builds on the growing role of stablecoins in digital payments, offering another route for integrating blockchain technology into established financial systems. By working with a regulated digital-asset infrastructure provider, Visa is positioning its stablecoin initiatives within an institutional framework that addresses the needs of financial institutions and payment partners. The move also reflects a broader shift in the payments industry, where major networks are increasingly exploring how stablecoins can support faster, more flexible settlement and cross-border transactions. As adoption develops, partnerships between established payment networks and digital-asset firms could become increasingly important in connecting traditional finance with the evolving digital economy.
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State of Stablecoins and Payments
Stablecoin payments are showing real adoption, growing 42% to at least $401B through August even as supply grew just 6% to $303B.
Key takeaways
- Stablecoin supply reached $303 billion in August 2026, up 6% year-over-year. Tether and Circle account for 85% of that supply. Exchanges hold $89 billion, and DeFi protocols hold $26 billion. The reserves backing this supply generate an estimated $170 billion in new U.S. Treasury demand.
- Payments are the fastest-growing use of stablecoins. Payment volume reached at least $401 billion through August 2026, up 42% or more on 2025. Businesses receive 58% to 64% of those payments. Business-to-business payments form the largest lane.
- Cross-border stablecoin payments are growing 7 times faster than fiat payments.
Cross-border stablecoin payments grew 64% in 2025, compared to 9% for conventional fiat rails. Stablecoins account for 0.31% of global retail cross-border payment value. Within geo-attributed stablecoin payments, 61% of volume remains domestic.
Agentic payments are scaling by count, not dollar value
The trend, on x402. The average payment fell to 6¢ and the count grew 7x, to 29M a month. Each panel has its own scale.
A second rail. Machine Payments Protocol on Tempo handled 633K charges, $125K in August, 2% of x402 by count, 8% by value.
What is left out. Self-dealing, reciprocal returns and money circling the agent economy do not count. That cuts 44% of raw dollars and 12% of transfers, and under 1% in August.
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📈 WealthTech
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Zilch expands debt facilities to £395m in round led by Deutsche Bank
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🪙 Crypto
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