Stablecoins gain ground in business payments

Stablecoins are gaining traction in business payments, with approximately 17 percent of stablecoin-linked Visa card volume occurring through business and commercial card programs in fiscal 2026 year-to-date.

Visa reported the figure Oct. 1, 2026, as businesses increasingly explore stablecoins for settlement, treasury management and cross-border commerce. The company supports more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs across consumer, business and commercial card activity.

Payment volume across those programs has grown nearly 200 percent year over year. "Businesses aren't looking for new payment technologies for the sake of innovation," said Mark Nelson, global head of product, commercial and money movement solutions at Visa. "They're looking for trusted reliable ways to move money.

"What's changing is that stablecoins are increasingly becoming part of the conversation around real business applications, from supplier payments and treasury operations to cross-border commerce."

Shift from trading to payments

For years, stablecoins have been associated with trading activity within digital asset markets, helping users move between cryptocurrencies and transact on crypto exchanges. But a shift is underway, with businesses increasingly putting stablecoins to work for payments, treasury operations and liquidity management.

Recent research reported by Allium, the blockchain data infrastructure company, revealed that payments are now the fastest-growing stablecoin use case, with total payments during the first eight months of 2026 ranging between $401 billion and $527 billion. That represents an increase of between 42 percent and 63 percent over the same time frame last year, according to Allium. Businesses receive between 58 percent and 64 percent of all stablecoin payments.

The largest business payment categories include service fees ($56 billion), payroll ($43 billion) and supplier payments ($28 billion).

Visa said it is seeing that trend across its own ecosystem, as reflected in the 17 percent of stablecoin card volume attributed to business and commercial cards.

Backing new stablecoin

In a related development, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase and Shopify have committed $1 billion to Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin that launched on Sept. 30 with a focus on global money movement.

The $1 billion represents liquidity the five companies are willing to provide, allowing a level of certainty that users can convert OUSD into dollars. While the commitment is substantial, published reports note that it pales in comparison to the value of existing stablecoin market giants.

The stablecoin market is reported to be worth in excess of $300 billion, and dominated by two players: Tether's USDT, with an estimated $184 billion in circulation, and Circle's USDC, valued at roughly $74 billion.

OUSD is a product of Open Standard, which announced the stablecoin June 30. Open Standard's aim is to spread more of the economics and ownership of OUSD across companies that distribute it rather than with a single issuer, as is the case with other stablecoins. More than 140 financial institutions, financial technology firms and payment networks are backing OUSD, including the five that just committed $1 billion in liquidity.

These developments come as stablecoins move beyond their roots in digital asset trading and take on a growing role in business payments, settlement and money movement.

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