According to a new indicator developed by Visa and Allium Labs, more than 90% of stablecoin transactions do not come from real users, indicating that such crypto tokens are still a long way from becoming a widely used means of payment. Visa said that of the total transaction volume of about $2.2 trillion in April, only $149 billion came from "real-world payment activities."
Visa’s findings challenge the argument of stablecoin proponents that these tokens, which are pegged to assets such as the U.S. dollar, will disrupt the $150 trillion payments industry. PayPal and Stripe are among the fintech giants moving into stablecoins, with Stripe co-founder John Collison bullish on the tokens in April due to “technological improvements.”
Commenting on the figures, Pranav Sood, executive general manager for EMEA at payments platform Airwallex, said: “This shows that stablecoins are still at a very early stage of development as a payment instrument. This does not mean that they do not have long-term potential, because I think they do. But the focus in the short and medium term needs to be on making sure the existing system works better.”
