Stablecoins Poised to Overtake Fiat Volumes in Less Than a Decade

A senior Coinbase executive has made a bold prediction that stablecoin transfer volumes will surpass traditional fiat payment volumes by around 2031. According to the executive, this would mark a significant milestone in the growth of digital currencies.

Stablecoin adjusted transfer volumes reached $719 billion in December 2024 alone, pushing the annual total to $27.6 trillion. This figure already exceeds the combined transaction volumes of Visa and Mastercard by over 7%.

Coinbase's Base network processed 62% of all global on-chain stablecoin transaction volume during Q1 2026, outpacing every other blockchain combined. The growth of USDC holdings on the Coinbase platform also hit an all-time high.