A Visa Inc. survey, in collaboration with Allium Labs, reveals that over 90% of stablecoin transactions are not from real users, challenging the future adoption of these crypto tokens as payment methods. In April, out of $2.2 trillion in transactions, only $149 billion were considered organic, highlighting the significant influence of bots and large-scale traders.
The standout feature of this survey is its attempt to accurately quantify genuine user activity in the stablecoin space, a sector that has been marred by inflated transaction volumes due to double-counting and bot activity. For instance, Visa, a company that processed more than $12 trillion transactions last year, used this new metric to distinguish between authentic and artificial volumes, revealing that the actual market activity is far less than previously reported.
This insight is crucial for understanding the real pace at which stablecoins are being adopted for payments, setting a benchmark for the industry to aim for genuine growth and usage. By highlighting the current limitations, Visa’s findings emphasize the need for stablecoins to evolve further to realize their long-term potential as a viable payment instrument.
