Bitcoin and United States dollar– pegged stablecoins are becoming a worldwide option for moving worth throughout borders without banks and card networks, as the Bitcoin network’s settlement volume starts to match the world’s biggest payment giants.
Bitcoin (BTC) settled $6.9 trillion worth of payments over the previous 90 days, which is “on par with or above Visa and Mastercard,” according to blockchain information platform Glassnode’s digital possession research study report for the 4th quarter of 2025, released on Wednesday.
Over the exact same duration, Visa processed $4.25 trillion in payment volume and Mastercard $2.63 trillion, for a combined $6.88 trillion, according to the report.
” Activity is moving off-chain as circulations relocate to #ETFs and brokers, however Bitcoin and #stablecoins continue to control on-chain settlement,” Glassnode stated on X.
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Bitcoin’s financial settlement still little beside cards
When internal transfers in between addresses managed by the exact same entity are removed out, Bitcoin’s “financial” settlement is more detailed to $870 billion per quarter, or about $7.8 billion each day, Glassnode approximated. The company stated the numbers still reveal Bitcoin’s growing function as a “internationally pertinent settlement network, bridging both institutional and retail deal circulations.”
This figure fades in contrast to Visa’s $39.7 billion everyday typical deal volume, or Mastercard’s $26.2 billion, the lion’s share of which is utilized for customer retail costs and everyday requirements.
On the other hand, Bitcoin’s settlement volume is primarily credited to trading, remittances, and store-of-value financial investment, as worldwide merchant adoption stays low.
Worldwide, just 20,599 merchants accept Bitcoin payments according to BTCmap, compared to Visa’s 175 million worldwide merchant areas.
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Stablecoins move $225 billion a day, however primarily bots
Stablecoins are becoming another worldwide worth transfer option, thanks to their repaired cost, low deal charges and 24/7 schedule.
Stablecoins are now moving approximately $225 billion in worth each day, according to the 30-day moving average of aggregate transfer volume for the leading 5 stablecoins determined by Glassnode.
Yet, about 70% of the $15.6 trillion stablecoin transfers throughout the 3rd quarter of 2025 were connected to automated trading bots, not natural activity.
Organic non-bot activity just represented about 20% of the overall, while the staying 9% was credited to internal wise agreement transfers and internal exchange deals, according to a research study report from crypto exchange CEX.io.
The exchange’s scientists stated it was “vital” to compare natural and bot activity for policymakers to examine the systemic danger and real-world adoption of stablecoin payments.
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