What Does Artemis Data Show for January 2026?
Blockchain analytics from Artemis reveal that total onchain stablecoin transaction volume surpassed $10.3 trillion in January 2026 — a single-month figure that places stablecoins alongside the world’s largest payment networks. USDC processed over $8.4 trillion of that total, representing approximately 82% of all stablecoin settlement activity.
How Does This Compare to Traditional Payment Networks?
The $10.3 trillion monthly figure puts stablecoins in a category comparable to — and in some contexts exceeding — traditional payment infrastructure. For reference:
- Visa processes roughly $1.2 trillion per month globally
- Mastercard processes approximately $800 billion per month
- Stablecoins processed $10.3 trillion in January alone
While not all stablecoin volume represents end-user payments (a significant portion reflects DeFi activity, treasury management, and institutional settlement), the raw throughput demonstrates the settlement capacity of blockchain-native dollar infrastructure.
Why Is USDC Dominant?
USDC’s 82% share of January volume reflects several compounding advantages:
- Regulatory positioning: Circle’s compliance-first approach and GENIUS Act readiness make USDC the preferred institutional stablecoin
- Network effects: Deep integration across exchanges, DeFi protocols, and institutional payment flows
- Cross-chain deployment: USDC operates natively on Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Base, and other major chains
- Institutional trust: Transparent reserve attestations and regulated issuer status
What Does This Mean for the Broader Market?
Scale Trajectory
Stablecoin usage has expanded from roughly $1 trillion in monthly volume in early 2023 to over $10 trillion in January 2026 — a 10x increase in three years. Full-year 2025 saw $33 trillion in total stablecoin transactions, a 72% increase year-over-year.
Real-World vs. Onchain Volume
Artemis research has previously distinguished between raw onchain volume and real-world payment usage. While the $10.3 trillion figure captures all onchain settlement, Artemis estimates approximately $390 billion in real-world stablecoin payments — still a fraction of total volume, but growing rapidly as institutional adoption accelerates.
Market Capitalization
Total stablecoin supply has climbed to over $270 billion, with USDC and USDT accounting for the majority. The growing gap between transaction volume and supply indicates increasing velocity — each stablecoin dollar is being used more frequently for settlement.
The Coinbax Perspective
$10.3 trillion in 30 days is no longer an experiment — it’s infrastructure. When stablecoin settlement volume rivals the combined throughput of Visa and Mastercard, the question isn’t whether financial institutions will adopt stablecoins, but how quickly they can deploy the operational controls needed to participate.
USDC’s 82% dominance also signals where institutional money is flowing: toward regulated, compliant stablecoins with transparent reserves. As banks and credit unions evaluate stablecoin capabilities under the GENIUS Act and MiCAR, the infrastructure layer between raw blockchain settlement and institutional-grade operations becomes critical. Programmable escrow, built-in reversibility, and real-time compliance turn $10 trillion in settlement capacity into usable financial infrastructure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does $10.3 trillion mean stablecoins are bigger than Visa?
Not directly comparable. Visa’s volume represents consumer and business payments, while stablecoin volume includes DeFi activity, institutional settlement, treasury management, and trading flows alongside payments. The comparison illustrates settlement capacity, not identical use cases.
Why is there a gap between total volume and real-world payments?
Most onchain stablecoin activity involves DeFi protocols, exchange settlement, and institutional treasury operations. Artemis estimates approximately $390 billion in identifiable real-world payments — still substantial, but a fraction of total settlement volume. This gap is expected to narrow as more traditional payment use cases move onchain.
What drove the surge in January 2026?
Multiple factors converged: regulatory clarity from the GENIUS Act and MiCAR, institutional deployment of stablecoin infrastructure by major banks, growing DeFi activity, and increasing use of stablecoins for cross-border corporate payments.
Why does USDC dominate over USDT in transaction volume?
USDC has become the preferred settlement token for institutional and DeFi applications due to Circle’s regulatory compliance, transparent reserve attestations, and deep integration across major blockchain ecosystems. USDT maintains a larger circulating supply but processes less onchain volume.