Stablecoins accounted for 60 per cent of total crypto purchase value processed through Mercuryo‘s on-ramp infrastructure in the first half of 2026, up from 43 per cent in the second half of 2025, according to the London-based payments infrastructure firm. On the off-ramp side, USDC and tether (USDt) represented 57 per cent of accepted off-ramp transactions in the same period, compared with 25 per cent a year earlier, while their share of total off-ramp turnover rose from 30 per cent to 56 per cent.

The most striking headline in the dataset is the volume trajectory. Stablecoin off-ramp transactions grew 446 per cent year on year, against 38 per cent for other digital tokens. Stablecoins accounted for roughly 80 per cent of the overall increase in off-ramp activity during the period. Mercuryo also noted that stablecoin cash-out activity remained consistent across the week, with weekend volumes averaging around 86 per cent of weekday levels, a pattern it interprets as demand for always-on access to dollar-denominated value outside conventional banking hours.

Arthur Firstov, chief business officer at Mercuryo, attributed the shift to a broadening awareness of crypto payroll. “Stablecoins provide a low-cost, high-speed means of transferring value, and their growing use for salary payments reflects increasing awareness of the advantages that crypto payroll services offer over traditional payroll,” he said.

The payroll and treasury driver

The release frames the growth primarily around two use cases: payroll for remote workers and freelancers, and corporate treasury operations. On payroll, the company cites third-party data from payroll provider Rise, which reported processing more than one billion dollars in payroll volume with more than half of worker withdrawals now in stablecoins across 190-plus countries. Chainalysis data and Brazilian central-bank commentary cited in Rise‘s 2026 report suggest that Brazil alone received an estimated $318.8 billion in crypto value between July 2024 and June 2025, with approximately 90 per cent linked to stablecoins, illustrating the scale of demand in markets with currency instability or costly remittance corridors.

On the corporate side, Mercuryo notes businesses using stablecoins to rebalance treasury positions across jurisdictions, move working capital between subsidiaries and settle supplier invoices in real time. Visa has introduced stablecoin payouts for creators and gig workers, and global payroll provider Deel is building stablecoin payroll infrastructure for internationally dispersed workforces, a signal that institutional rails are being laid rather than simply anticipated.

Regulatory read-across

The growth in stablecoin volumes is arriving alongside a more structured regulatory environment. In the United States, the GENIUS Act has established a legal framework covering stablecoin issuance, reserve backing and consumer protections, which is expected to reinforce institutional confidence in regulated stablecoin instruments for cross-border payments and real-world settlement. In the European Union, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation is already in force, with e-money token provisions that directly govern euro and dollar-referenced stablecoins issued or distributed to EU customers. These parallel frameworks are increasingly relevant to infrastructure providers such as Mercuryo, which operate across multiple jurisdictions and whose on-ramp and off-ramp services touch regulated payment flows.

The broader competitive picture is one of rapid convergence. Established payment networks, neobanks and specialist payroll providers are all building or extending stablecoin rails, compressing the window in which a pure infrastructure play can command a differentiated position. For Mercuryo, the strategic question is whether proprietary transaction data and existing integrations with partners such as Revolut, Mastercard and Visa are sufficient to sustain that position as the segment matures and regulatory compliance costs rise across the board.

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