Cross-border stablecoin flows jump 77.5% to $220.3 billion, Chainalysis says

Cross-border stablecoin flows rose 77.5% to $220.3 billion

Cross-border stablecoin transfers grew 77.5% to $220.3 billion in the year ended June 30, 2026, according to Chainalysis's latest adoption report. A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to keep a steady value, usually tied to the US dollar.

The report, published September 23, says most of that money moved along a small number of routes. About 96.1% of measured value traveled through the busiest quarter of country-to-country routes.

Key numbers from the report

• The annual cross-border total rose from $124.2 billion in the previous 12 months to $220.3 billion.
• Monthly flows climbed from $11 billion in January 2025 to $24 billion in June 2026.
• Chainalysis identified 4,708 new routes, or \"corridors,\" between July 2025 and June 2026. Together they carried $2.64 billion.
• Value moving through the top quarter of corridors grew 70.8%.
• The average cross-border stablecoin payment was about $3,000.

Stablecoin transfers grew while the wider crypto economy shrank

Chainalysis's broader measure of the crypto economy slipped 1.6% to $9.4 trillion over the same annual period. That measure combines money flowing into crypto services, transfers between personal wallets inside one country, and cross-border transfers into personal wallets. It is not the market value of all tokens in circulation.

The split also appeared inside crypto services. Value received by exchanges, DeFi protocols and other crypto businesses fell 4.3% to $8.90 trillion, while stablecoin inflows to those services rose 5.3%. Exchanges are platforms where users trade crypto. DeFi protocols are software-based financial services that run without a traditional middleman.

The report also puts Latin America's measured crypto activity at $593.8 billion, up 9.8%, even as the worldwide figure declined.

Many new routes carried a small share of the money

The 4,708 new corridors account for only $2.64 billion of the $220.3 billion measured total. That means the network of country-to-country routes is widening, but most dollar value still depends on a few busy paths.

Why the $220.3 billion is a lower-bound estimate

The cross-border figures are a lower-bound estimate, not a count of every international stablecoin transfer. Chainalysis includes only transfers where it can assign both the sending and receiving side to a country. Flows with an unknown or hidden endpoint are excluded.

What Tether's economics chief says about the pattern

Philip Gradwell, vice president of economics at Tether, told Chainalysis the activity looks less like speculation. \"Activity has become consistent, routed through wallets in a steady rhythm rather than in bursts,\" he said. \"That is the signature of trade and business activity, not speculation.\"

Chainalysis linked the roughly $3,000 average payment size to uses such as supplier payments, remittances and moving savings. Remittances are money workers send to family in another country. That link is Chainalysis's own reading of the data rather than a confirmed breakdown of what each transfer was for.

What the figures do not settle

The report does not explain why so much value stays on the busiest routes. It also leaves out transfers whose endpoints cannot be tied to a country, so the real size of cross-border stablecoin activity is likely higher than the number reported, though the exact amount is unknown.

Sources

• The Defiant