Stablecoin Transaction Volume Surpasses Visa in 2024

Portalkripto.com – Stablecoins are experiencing significant growth. According to a recent report by Bitwise, in 2024, the transaction volume using these crypto assets has surpassed Visa.

The report noted that stablecoin transaction volume in 2024 reached more than $13 trillion, doubling compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, Visa’s transaction volume only grew by about 2% from 2023 to 2024.

This surge is considered one of the most important financial developments of the past two decades.

One of the main drivers of stablecoin adoption is its remarkable efficiency in transactions—enabling near-instant money transfers at significantly lower costs compared to traditional systems like SWIFT.

This efficiency is transforming how value moves across the world, offering a faster and cheaper alternative to conventional banking.

In the decentralized finance (DeFi) world, stablecoins also serve as a stable unit of account and a reliable medium of exchange, facilitating a wide range of financial activities more smoothly.

Stablecoin Growth Soars — But Risks Linger

Stablecoin transaction volumes reached $14 trillion in 2024, up from $7 trillion in 2023. In 2020, stablecoin volumes were almost 10 times smaller than Visa’s — but within less than five years, stablecoins managed to close that gap.

The growing demand has prompted several U.S. states and financial institutions to consider issuing their own stablecoins.

Meanwhile, the total market capitalization of all U.S. stablecoins listed on CoinMarketCap, as of this report, stands at $235 billion. Tether (USDT) still dominates the stablecoin category with a market cap of $147 billion—more than half of the total U.S. stablecoin market cap.

However, some experts question whether stablecoins issued by traditional financial institutions will follow the same model as USDT and USDC. Cited by Bitcoin News, Petr Kozyakov, CEO of Mercuryo, emphasized the importance of the choice between public, permissionless blockchains and private, permissioned ones.

Meanwhile, Mike Blake-Crawford, CMO of World Mobile Group, added that traditional banks are more likely to opt for permissioned models, which could reduce the decentralization benefits that make stablecoins so powerful for financial inclusion.

Balancing efficiency, decentralization, and regulatory compliance will be key for banks as they enter the stablecoin space, Blake-Crawford explained.

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Regulatory Certainty Will Define the Future

The form of stablecoins issued by traditional financial institutions will largely be influenced by the regulations currently being discussed in the U.S. and the European Union. After years without clear oversight, incidents of depegging and stablecoin collapses have prompted global regulators to propose new frameworks.

Mike Blake-Crawford said regulatory certainty — such as the proposed STABLE Act — could become a crucial milestone unlocking major growth in the industry, especially in the United States.

Global coordination on cross-border payment standards, led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is also expected to play a major role in the expansion of stablecoins.

Finally, balancing privacy with compliance will be a major challenge. Regulators must set standards for identity verification and transaction tracing without infringing on users’ rights, Grachev stressed.

Stablecoins are on track to revolutionize the future of finance—but to realize their full potential, risks must be carefully managed and clear regulatory frameworks must be established.