Is it possible that stablecoin volumes will surpass Visa’s this quarter?

According to research firm Sacra, stablecoins could potentially surpass Visa in total payment volume this quarter. Sacra co-founder Jan-Erik Asplund argued in a blog post that stablecoins offer convenience, speed, and cost advantages over traditional payment methods. He also noted that major banks are increasingly using stablecoins for their payment systems. However, Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, disagrees, stating that there is a lot of noise in stablecoin data and that on-chain transactions do not resemble traditional settlement. Visa’s recently launched dashboard shows that a large percentage of stablecoin transactions are not made by genuine users, with bot activity and automated transactions accounting for the majority of volume. Visa collaborated with Allium Labs to develop an adjusted metric for stablecoin transactions to remove potential distortions from inorganic activity. The dashboard reveals that stablecoin transaction volume has doubled since the beginning of 2024, with Tether and Circle’s USD Coin being the most popular. PayPal and Stripe have also entered the stablecoin market, and Ripple has announced plans to launch its own USD-backed stablecoin. The current market capitalization for stablecoins is approximately $161 billion, with a daily trading volume of $37 billion.