Research finds: Over 90% of stablecoin transactions do not come from real users

According to a report by Golden Finance, a new index developed by Visa suggests that over 90% of stablecoin transaction volume does not come from real users, indicating that such crypto tokens may still be far from becoming commonly used payment methods. The dashboard developed by Visa and Allium Labs aims to exclude transactions initiated by bots and large traders in order to isolate those initiated by real people. Visa stated that out of the total transaction amount of about $2.2 trillion in April, only $149 billion came from organic payment activities. This finding challenges the view held by stablecoin supporters that tokens pegged to assets like the US dollar could completely transform the $150 trillion payments industry. For stablecoins, transactions are often potentially double-counted depending on which platform users transfer their funds to. Cuy Sheffield, head of cryptocurrency at Visa said for example, converting Circle Internet Financial Ltd.'s USDC into PayPal's PYUSD on decentralized exchange Uniswap with an amount of $100 would result in a recorded total stablecoin transaction volume of $200 on-chain.