Survey Finds Stablecoin Use in Corporate Payments Doubled in a Year

Stablecoin use in live business payments doubles

Corporate use of stablecoins has moved from testing to live payments, according to an EY-Parthenon survey published in CoinDesk's Crypto for Advisors newsletter. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to hold a steady value, usually by being tied to a traditional currency such as the US dollar.

The 2026 Blockchain Payments Survey asked 521 decision-makers at companies and financial institutions. It found that 18% of corporates have used stablecoins in production, which is double the share reported in the 2025 edition of the survey.

Tokenized deposits — a digital form of bank deposit — are close behind, with 15% of corporates reporting adoption. The survey said the evidence points to a market shifting from experimentation toward implementation, while noting that blockchain payments have not yet reached mass adoption.

Key numbers from the survey

• 18% of corporates have used stablecoins in production, up from 9% implied by the prior survey's doubled figure.
• 15% of corporates report adopting tokenized deposits.
• 69% of financial institutions offer stablecoin services or plan to launch them within two years, up from 30% in 2025.
• 49% of banks already offer or plan to offer tokenized deposits over the same two-year window.
• 50% to 53% of all respondents have used or are exploring stablecoins and tokenized deposits for cross-border supplier payments or cross-border business-to-business payment acceptance.

Cross-border payments lead the way

Cross-border business payments remain the most common use case. The survey found that this is where companies most often put blockchain-based money to work, either for paying suppliers abroad or for accepting business payments across borders.

Respondents pointed to the problems these tools are meant to solve. About 56% cited slow processing and settlement, 52% cited foreign exchange costs or spreads, 48% cited regulatory, sanctions and compliance delays, and 36% cited correspondent banking fees.

Financial institutions are responding to the same pressures. Faster settlement and lower costs were among the leading reasons they gave for interest in both stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

Settlement of tokenized assets draws interest

The survey also looked at what firms want to do beyond simple money transfers. Tokenized asset settlement was the most frequently chosen opportunity to add value on top of blockchain payment rails, selected by 63% of respondents from financial institutions.

The newsletter's author, Prashant Kher of EY-Parthenon, described this as strong interest in using blockchain-based money as a settlement mechanism. The survey findings are presented as evidence that companies are folding these capabilities into existing payment workflows and treasury operations.

What is confirmed

The figures come from the EY-Parthenon 2026 Blockchain Payments Survey, which covered 521 corporate and financial institution decision-makers, as reported by CoinDesk. The adoption percentages, the comparison with the 2025 survey, and the list of payment frictions are survey results reported in the source material.

What is still unclear

The source material does not explain how the survey respondents were selected, which regions or company sizes they represent, or how the questions were worded. The excerpt also ends while discussing a shift toward firms using more than one payment method, so the details of that section are not available.

Why it matters for corporate treasuries

The survey suggests that slow settlement, currency conversion costs and compliance delays are the main frictions firms are trying to avoid. If the reported figures hold, stablecoins and tokenized deposits are being used less as experiments and more as tools inside normal payment and treasury work.

Sources

• CoinDesk