Stablecoin payment volumes double to $390b as Asia claims 60% share

Majority of activity is in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, according to McKinsey and Artemis Analytics.

Stablecoin payments account for $390b annually based on December 2025 data, more than doubling from 2024 levels, according to data from McKinsey & Co. and blockchain analytics provider Artemis Analytics.

Asia represented the largest source of stablecoin payment volumes, accounting for $245b in payments or 60% of the total. Activity is almost driven entirely by payments sent from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, McKinsey found.

Notably, Hong Kong introduced a stablecoins bill in 2025— a law that could position the city as a launchpad for bank-grade, interoperable stablecoins and serve as a gateway for regional digital currency initiatives, analysts told Asian Banking & Finance last year.

Singapore is also expected to continue increasing adoption of tokenised payment products, including stablecoins, blending traditional finance with crypto-backed offerings.

North America made up $95b of the payments, whilst Europe followed at $50b. Latin America and Africa account for less than $1b.

This indicates that stablecoins are gaining traction for settlement, liquidity management, and reduced friction in payments, the report said.

“Taken together, these patterns suggest that adoption of stablecoins is taking hold in a limited number of proven use cases, with broader scale dependent on how successfully these can be expanded and replicated elsewhere,” McKinsey wrote.

Stablecoin-linked card spending, or spending in merchants without needing to convert funds through exchanges or banks, has grown to $4.5b in 2025— 673% higher than in 2024.

Business-to-business (B2B) payments dominate, accounting for $226b or roughly 60% of global stablecoin payment volume in 2025.  This is 733% higher than in 20244, McKinsey and Artemis Analytics said.

Overall stablecoins' total transaction volume is estimated to be up to $35t annually, although not all of these are true end-user payments, McKinsey said.