Settlement / settled volume
Settlement is the final transfer that discharges a payment obligation. Settled volume (working definition) is the total value of stablecoin transfers completed over a period. The BIS notes stablecoin transfers settle neither directly nor indirectly on central bank balance sheets. Measurement choices change the figure: the BIS estimates 2025 stablecoin transaction volume at about $28 trillion and says values net of transfers between wallets of the same party are far lower; a BIS speech gives about $35 trillion, with payment-related flows near $390 billion.
What the sources say
| Source | Quote | Link |
|---|---|---|
| BIS Annual Economic Report 2026, ch. III: final settlement | "What fundamentally matters, however, is that money is accepted "with no questions asked" as final settlement of an obligation." | bis.org |
| BIS Annual Economic Report 2026, ch. III: stablecoin settlement | "At present, stablecoin transfers settle neither directly nor indirectly on central bank balance sheets." | bis.org |
| BIS Annual Economic Report 2026, ch. III: 2025 volume and netting | "Annual stablecoin transaction volume amounted to an estimated $28 trillion in 2025, equivalent to less than three business weeks of settlement volumes of the largest US wholesale payment systems; values net of transactions between wallets owned by the same party are far lower." | bis.org |
| BIS speech (20 April 2026): volume vs payment flows | "While stablecoin transaction volumes seem large – some $35 trillion annually in 2025 – their use for real economy transactions is modest. For example, payment-related flows over the course of 2025 were estimated at around $390 billion." | bis.org |
| FSB 2023 recommendations: settlement finality | "rules governing the irrevocability of a transfer orders (“settlement finality”)" | fsb.org |
| BIS Annual Economic Report 2026, ch. III, footnote 29: source of the adjusted volume | "29 Adjusted annual stablecoin transaction volumes are from Chainalysis (2026b)." | bis.org |
Note on sources
"Settled volume" has no official definition in the sources read; the definition above is a working one. The sources also give different totals for 2025: the BIS Annual Economic Report 2026 gives "an estimated $28 trillion" (adjusted, citing Chainalysis) and a BIS speech gives "some $35 trillion". Neither figure is ours.
Related terms
See also
- Data: Organic stablecoin settlement by network
- Explainer: What do “settled volume”, “organic volume” and “net issuance” mean?
Checked against the sources on 2026-11-01.