Experts question stablecoin volume exceeding $13.5 trillion

Recent claims of stablecoin transaction volumes surpassing $13.5 trillion in 2024 have raised scepticism among experts. 

Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, shared on X that stablecoin transactions now exceed Visa’s weekly volume, reaching over $400 billion. 

However, experts argue these numbers may be misleading. 

Joe, an advisor at Maven 11 Capital, explained that stablecoin volume can be easily manipulated. 

He pointed out that on Solana (CRYPTO:SOL), a blockchain with low transaction fees, professional traders could generate hundreds of millions in volume with minimal initial capital.

Joe noted, “If you have $100,000 of USDC on Solana, you can do ~$136 million of ‘stablecoin volume’ for $1 in fees.”

Dan Smith, a data expert at Blockworks Research, supported this concern, emphasizing that the use of flash loans further inflates volume. 

Flash loans allow users to borrow large sums without collateral, amplifying on-chain activity without actual economic backing.

Smith and Rajiv, a member of Framework Ventures, also dismissed the stablecoin volume metric as unreliable. 

Rajiv even called it a “useless metric.”

Experts also raised concerns about wash trading and bot trading, which artificially inflate stablecoin transaction volumes. 

Wash trading involves repeatedly buying and selling between wallets controlled by the same entity, adding no real economic value. 

Similarly, bot trading generates fake liquidity and arbitrage opportunities that distort volume figures.

A report by Chainalysis estimated that wash trades involving ERC-20 and BEP-20 tokens could reach up to $2.57 billion in volume in 2024..