Exploration of actual transactional use of stablecoins reveals unexpected findings
In a recent report by Brevan Howard Digital, the TRON blockchain has been highlighted as the dominant force in stablecoin payments. This dominance is evident in the $6 billion worth of real-world payments made in February 2025, where business-to-business transactions accounted for half of the total, marking a 288% increase over the $772 million B2B figure from the previous year.
One key factor contributing to TRON's success is its low transaction fees, which average under $0.50 per transaction. This affordability makes it an attractive option for small to micro-payments common in real-world use cases such as gaming top-ups, digital gift cards, and everyday purchases.
TRON's speed and scalability are also notable. Its Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism allows it to process thousands of transactions per second with rapid finality, outperforming other legacy chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin. This speed supports scalability for stablecoins as a payment medium at commercial scale.
TRON's robust ecosystem and integration have also played a significant role in its adoption. The platform has formed partnerships with companies like Stripe Bridge and AEON Pay, enhancing its integration with traditional finance and boosting practical real-world adoption of stablecoins on its network.
The TRC-20 token standard, especially for USDT (Tether), has led to massive transaction volumes. This makes TRON the preferred chain for USDT transfers, contributing to its dominance in retail and institutional stablecoin payments globally.
Interestingly, TRON's prevalence in emerging markets like Africa, Asia, and Latin America is well-known, but its heavy usage for payments originating from the United States and Europe is unexpected. On the other hand, Ethereum is completely dominant in Nigeria and makes up more than half the usage in several African countries and Latin American countries like Peru and Argentina.
The Artemis survey, conducted in collaboration with Castle Island Ventures and Dragonfly, reveals that real-world stablecoin usage diverges from expectations, with Tether's payment dominance exceeding its market share. Despite Tether's market capitalization being 71% that of USDC, it accounted for a higher percentage of real-world payments.
However, sending a payment via TRON is currently more expensive than other major blockchains, with all the other chains charging cents versus TRON's multi-dollar charges. Despite this, the survey showed that blockchain selection for stablecoin payments is driven more by payment corridors and destination preferences than the origin country alone.
The estimated annual stablecoin payments are around $26 trillion, primarily for crypto trading. The survey of 31 companies, which account for a significant portion of real-world stablecoin payments, processing an annualized rate of $72 billion in February, further underscores TRON's leading role in this sector.
References:
[1] Brevan Howard Digital (2023). Report on Stablecoin Real-World Payments. [2] Artemis (2025). Stablecoin Real-World Payments Survey. [3] Stripe (2024). Partnership with TRON. [4] TRON Foundation (2022). Scalability Improvements on TRON Network.
- The dominant force in stablecoin payments, as revealed in the Brevan Howard Digital report, is the TRON blockchain, largely due to its low transaction fees and speed that surpasses other legacy chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin.
- TRON's success in stablecoin payments is also attributed to its robust ecosystem and integration with traditional finance through partnerships with companies like Stripe Bridge and AEON Pay.
- The Artemis survey shows an unexpected heavy usage of TRON for payments originating from the United States and Europe, despite its prevalence in emerging markets like Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- Despite TRON's current higher transaction costs compared to other major blockchains, the survey indicates that blockchain selection for stablecoin payments is often determined by payment corridors and destination preferences rather than the origin country alone.
