Stablecoins move $400M an hour: 6 numbers from Coinbase

Stablecoins moved more than $400 million an hour on average in the third quarter, and about 73% of screened transfer volume happened while US banks were closed, according to a new report produced for Coinbase by The Block Pro Research. The study, "The Always-On Dollar", was published on Oct. 20. It comes from a company that earns revenue from USDC, so treat the projections as an industry case, not a neutral forecast. These are the figures worth knowing.

$400 million an hour, mostly after hours

The hourly figure counts only "organic" transfer activity in Q3 2026. Separately, over the 12 months to July 31, 73% of screened volume took place outside US banking hours. The authors read that as demand for money that works nights, weekends and holidays, when bank wires do not.

$891 billion a quarter, up more than fourfold

Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume, which strips out automated and bot activity, reached $891 billion in Q3 2026, more than four times its level at the start of 2023. If the current growth rate holds, the report expects about $1.5 trillion per quarter by the end of 2027. That is an extrapolation, not a given.

86% cheaper for a $200 remittance

Sending $200 in USDC on Base costs about 86% less than a traditional transfer, the study says. That is in line with other recent research, such as Borderless.xyz's finding that stablecoin remittances are about 84% cheaper, though that study also flagged reliability gaps in payout networks.

293 million addresses hold stablecoins

That is more than the combined card base of American Express (155 million) and Discover (72 million), and nearly double the 156.7 million mobile banking users of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citi. The report itself warns that addresses are not people: one person can control many wallets.

7 of the 10 largest US banks have tested them

Seven of the ten biggest US banks have tested stablecoins or tokenized deposits for settlement, and the other three have announced plans to do so. It is the same trend behind the 45% jump in stablecoin payments reported by Allium last week.

$155 billion and $3–5 trillion: the big projections

Moving 80% of international transactions onto stablecoin rails could add about $155 billion a year to global GDP, the report estimates, and AI agents could mediate $3 trillion to $5 trillion of consumer commerce by 2030. Both are modelled scenarios rather than measurements.

New to the topic? Our explainer on how stablecoins work covers the basics, from reserves to redemption.