Cross-border stablecoin flows surge 78% to $220.3 billion

Cross-border stablecoin transfers rose 78 percent to $220.3 billion over the 12 months through June 2026. Transfers increased from $124.2 billion during that period. Monthly volume more than doubled from $11 billion in January 2025 to $24 billion by June 2026. Total crypto market capitalization fell 50 percent. The decline represented a $2.1 trillion contraction and marked the worst bear market since 2022. Smaller payments averaging about $3,000 drove most of the growth. Businesses used the payments for supplier payments. People used them to send money home. People also used them to move savings out of volatile local currencies. New trade corridors added 4,708 routes. Those routes carried $2.64 billion. The bottom three quartiles of corridors grew from $0.26 billion to $8.66 billion in value. Stablecoin balances stayed between $98 billion and $109 billion during the market drawdown. Other crypto assets fell 55.6 percent. Stablecoins reached 22.5 percent of global on-chain balances by June 2026. The global crypto economy contracted 1.6 percent to $9.4 trillion despite the price decline. Stablecoin activity became more consistent through wallets. Philip Gradwell, vice president of economics at Tether, said the activity showed trade and business use rather than speculation. Gradwell said USDT serves parts of the economy that traditional finance priced out or restricted. USDT costs an average of one cent per transaction. USDT settles instantly. USDT requires only a phone.