Ethereum Stablecoin Transfers Explode to $8 Trillion in Q4, Doubling Q2’s Total

Ethereum's stablecoin network just posted a quarterly volume that would make traditional payment rails blush.

The Scale is Staggering

Processing $8 trillion in a single quarter isn't just growth—it's a paradigm shift. That figure represents a doubling from the total just six months prior, signaling a velocity of adoption that legacy finance can't match. This isn't niche activity; it's the foundation of a new monetary layer operating at global scale.

Beyond Speculation, Into Utility

The narrative flips here. This volume underscores stablecoins' primary use case: seamless, borderless value transfer. They're cutting out correspondent banking delays and bypassing traditional FX spreads. The network is being stress-tested not by traders, but by real-world economic activity—payments, remittances, and treasury operations all running on-chain, 24/7.

A Silent Infrastructure Takeover

While headlines chase token prices, the real story is in the plumbing. Ethereum has become the settlement backbone for a digital dollar system that operates outside the traditional banking charter. It's a quiet, relentless takeover of the payments stack, proving that the most profound financial revolutions often look like backend upgrades—until they don't.

The old guard is left tracking stock tickers while a new, trillion-dollar-per-month payment system gets built in plain sight. Talk about a legacy system.

TLDR

• Ethereum recorded over $8 trillion in stablecoin transfers during the fourth quarter of 2025.
• The transfer volume nearly doubled from the $4 trillion reported in the second quarter of the same year.
• Stablecoin issuance on Ethereum increased by 43 percent over the course of 2025.
• Daily Ethereum transactions reached 2.23 million in late December, marking a new all-time high.
• Monthly active addresses on the Ethereum network peaked at 10.4 million in December.

Ethereum recorded over $8 trillion in stablecoin transfer volume during Q4 2025, according to Token Terminal data, doubling from Q2. Stablecoin issuance on the network rose by 43% in 2025, increasing from $127 billion to $181 billion. Daily transactions and active addresses on ethereum also reached new highs by the end of the year.

Stablecoin Transfer Volume Hits New Peak on Ethereum

Ethereum’s stablecoin transfer volume surged to an all-time high in Q4 2025, surpassing $8 trillion for the first time. Token Terminal reported this figure, showing a NEAR 100% increase from the $4 trillion recorded in Q2 2025.

This increase in volume reflected Ethereum’s role as a dominant settlement layer for digital dollar transactions globally. According to analysts, the rising volume reflects practical use cases rather than speculative activity in the crypto space.

One market analyst on X stated, “This is global payments happening on-chain,” highlighting Ethereum’s broader adoption. The statement emphasized that institutional adoption is still developing, leaving more room for volume growth in 2026.

BREAKING: The stablecoin transfer volume on @ethereum surpassed $8 trillion in Q4, marking a new all-time high. pic.twitter.com/CzXBO9bt0W

— Token Terminal(@tokenterminal) January 4, 2026

Stablecoin Supply and Network Activity on the Rise

Data from Blockworks indicated Ethereum’s stablecoin supply ROSE from $127 billion to $181 billion throughout 2025. This 43% rise in supply aligned with the increase in transaction activity and broader adoption of stablecoins on-chain.

Daily transactions reached a new record of 2.23 million in December, up 48% year-over-year, according to Etherscan data. Monthly active addresses peaked at 10.4 million in December, with over one million daily unique senders and receivers.

Ethereum also remained the top network for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, holding about 65% of all on-chain RWA value. RWA.xyz reported that total on-chain RWA value stood at approximately $19 billion across networks as of year-end.

When including layer-2 solutions and EVM-compatible chains, Ethereum’s share of RWA tokenization rose above 70%. This trend confirmed the network’s growing role in hosting tokenized real-world assets beyond just stablecoin transfers.

Buterin Declares Ethereum Has Solved Blockchain Trilemma

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the network has solved the blockchain trilemma using technology already running on mainnet. He posted on X that PeerDAS and zkEVMs combine to bring decentralization, scalability, and security together effectively.

“Now, Ethereum with PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs… we get: decentralized, consensus and high bandwidth,” Buterin wrote on X. He emphasized this breakthrough has moved beyond theory, stating, “The trilemma has been solved… with live running code.”

PeerDAS launched in December through the Fusaka upgrade and allows efficient data verification without downloading full datasets. This reduces hardware needs while increasing data throughput, supporting Ethereum’s growing transaction volumes.

ZkEVMs, meanwhile, use zero-knowledge proofs while remaining compatible with Ethereum’s current VIRTUAL machine. Buterin noted they are “alpha-stage” in security, but already delivering performance that supports future scalability goals.