Stablecoins Hit Record $300 Billion as Visa and PayPal Join the Race

The milestone was recorded on October 3, according to DeFiLlama data, after nearly $40 billion in inflows during the third quarter alone.

The surge comes amid heightened competition between issuers and a new wave of product launches. Market leaders Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC remain dominant, but 2025 has also seen breakout growth from newer entrants such as Ethena Labs’ USDe, which has jumped from $6 billion at the start of the year to nearly $15 billion by October.

Ethereum continues to host the bulk of circulating stablecoins – more than $170 billion worth – though other ecosystems are catching up. Solana-based stablecoins nearly tripled this year, climbing from under $5 billion to almost $14 billion. Arbitrum and Aptos also reported expansions of more than 70% and 90% respectively, underscoring how stablecoin adoption is becoming multi-chain.

Industry voices argue the real story is not the $300 billion headline, but the trajectory. “Supply has doubled in two years and may double again in the next 12 months,” said Phil George, founder of EarnOS, who predicted that transaction volumes could hit $100 trillion in 2026 if adoption continues at its current pace. He pointed to initiatives from Stripe, Circle, PayPal, and even Visa as signals that stablecoins are on the cusp of deeper integration into mainstream payments.

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Others see this as just the early innings. Aryan Sheikhalian of CMT Digital called the milestone a “marker of maturity,” but suggested that $500 billion will mark the point of true mainstreaming, with $1 trillion within reach by the end of the decade. He argued that corporate treasuries and retail giants like Amazon or Walmart could tip the balance, either by issuing their own tokens or by integrating stablecoins directly into their checkout systems.

The market’s momentum also highlights a shift in narrative: once viewed as niche trading tools, stablecoins are increasingly being positioned as the backbone of future finance. With global payments rails being rebuilt around tokenized money, industry leaders say today’s $300 billion will eventually look small compared to the trillions expected in circulation by the 2030s.

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