Stablecoins Dethrone ACH as America's Payment Giant

Stablecoin transaction volume just hit a watershed moment—surpassing the infrastructure that's been moving US payments for decades.

The Flip Heard 'Round Crypto

We're looking at hard evidence that stablecoins have evolved from fringe crypto experiment to serious financial backbone. According to blockchain analytics platform Artemis, February stablecoin volume hit $7.2 trillion, crushing the Automated Clearing House network's $6.8 trillion. This isn't noise—it's a structural shift in how money moves.

The ACH doesn't sound flashy, but it's the actual backbone of US payments. Nacha (the org that oversees it alongside the Federal Reserve) confirms the ACH processes roughly 93% of all US salary payments. For stablecoins—an asset class barely 12 years old—to eclipse that volume is remarkable.

Here's what makes this legit: Artemis adjusted the data to strip out MEV activity and intra-exchange noise, comparing 30-day rolling stablecoin volume against other financial systems' daily averages. March data shows the momentum held, with stablecoins hitting $7.5 trillion and matching ACH volume.

Why This Matters Now

The regulatory environment just shifted. Banks and fintech firms are waking up to a painful reality: ignore stablecoin adoption at your peril. Frank Chapparo, content head at trading firm GSR, was blunt about it—financial institutions choosing to ignore this sector are essentially "toast."

The numbers back him up. Stablecoin supply climbed from under $30 billion in 2020 to over $300 billion today. Q1 2026 data from CEX.IO shows total stablecoin supply hit $315 billion, up $8 billion year-over-year. More telling: stablecoins now represent 75% of total crypto trading volume, the highest level ever recorded.

Institutional adoption is accelerating, fueled partly by warming US regulatory sentiment. The GENIUS Act has been a key catalyst, unlocking enterprise-level participation that seemed impossible just years ago. Standard Chartered analysts are forecasting stablecoin market cap could hit $2 trillion by 2028—a 530% increase from current levels.

Crypto analyst Alex Obchakevich summed up the shift perfectly: "Stablecoins are quietly becoming the foundational infrastructure for global payments: no banks, no weekends, no borders." That's not hype. That's infrastructure reorienting itself around a new standard.