Base edges Ethereum in June stablecoin payment volume

For crypto investors, June's stablecoin data points to a shift in where payment activity is happening. Visa Onchain Analytics put adjusted stablecoin transaction volume at about $1.79 trillion for the month, above February's prior high and well up from May.

Base ranked first with roughly $565 billion in adjusted volume, just ahead of Ethereum at about $562 billion. The gap was only about $3 billion, but the result matters because Base is an Ethereum layer-2 built for lower-cost, faster transactions. If more tokenized dollars move there, attention moves from supply to distribution: which networks offer lower fees, broader wallet reach, stronger app integration, and easier settlement.

Visa separates adjusted data from raw on-chain volume because unfiltered transfers can include bots, high-frequency activity, internal smart contract movements, and intra-exchange transfers. Its methodology, built with Allium and other partners, aims to better reflect transfers that resemble real settlement, though Visa says the model will keep changing as data labeling improves.

The issuer breakdown also stayed lopsided. USDC made up about 67% of June's adjusted stablecoin volume, while USDT accounted for about 32%. Visa had already noted that layer-2 networks passed Ethereum in monthly stablecoin transaction count in August 2024. June's figures suggest that trend is starting to show up in dollar volume too.