Cross-border stablecoin transfers are surging nearly 78 percent over the past year even as the broader crypto market experiences a sharp decline.
Transfers of the dollar-pegged tokens across borders climbed from $124.2 billion to $220.3 billion in the 12 months through June 2026.
Monthly volumes more than doubled from $11 billion in January 2025 to $24 billion by June 2026.
The surge occurred even as the total crypto market cap fell 50 percent, a $2.1 trillion contraction that marked the worst bear market since 2022.
The growth came mainly from smaller payments averaging about $3,000, used for supplier payments, sending money home, or moving savings out of volatile local currencies.
New trade corridors opened rapidly, with 4,708 fresh routes carrying $2.64 billion.
The bottom three quartiles of corridors expanded from $0.26 billion to $8.66 billion in value.
Stablecoin balances held steady between $98 billion and $109 billion during the market drawdown, while other crypto assets fell 55.6 percent.
This lifted stablecoins’ share of global on-chain balances to 22.5 percent by June 2026.
The global crypto economy overall contracted just 1.6 percent to $9.4 trillion despite the price slump.
Activity has become consistent, routed through wallets in a steady rhythm rather than in bursts.
“That is the signature of trade and business activity, not speculation,” said Philip Gradwell, vice president of economics at Tether.
He added that the power of USDT lies in serving parts of the economy priced out by traditional finance, at an average cost of one cent per transaction.
“The real power of USDT is in the long tail, the parts of the economy that were priced out or shut out because traditional financial technology was too expensive or too restricted
USDT can serve them because it costs on average one cent per transaction, settles instantly, and needs nothing more than a phone.”
Source: Chainalysis 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index
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