NODO Weekly: Stablecoins, Tron, and Memecoins

This week’s charts zoom in on how crypto is playing out far beyond the headlines. 

Stablecoin payments are now running at a $72.3B annualized rate, driven more by B2B flows than consumer transfers. Tron and USDT dominate settlement in emerging markets, especially across Africa. 

And in a surprising twist, memecoins are no longer a joke—they’ve gone global, with France leading the charge in adoption. 

The data reveals where crypto is truly being used, not just where it’s being hyped.

1. Stablecoin-as-a-Service: SaaS

Over the past few years, stablecoins have evolved from a tool used mainly by crypto traders to a serious contender in the global payments stack. But until now, we’ve had very little visibility into how and where they’re actually used for real-world transactions.

That changes with this new study from Artemis and partners.

Between January 2023 and February 2025, 31 stablecoin-focused payments companies settled $94.2 billion in on-chain payments. These aren’t speculative DeFi transactions or exchange transfers—these are end-user payments from businesses and consumers.

As of February 2025, this activity was running at a $72.3 billion annualized rate, and growing.

The sheer volume confirms a quiet shift in the market: stablecoins are no longer peripheral—they’re increasingly used as infrastructure.

Contrary to assumptions that stablecoins are mostly used for P2P or remittances, the data shows that business-to-business (B2B) payments lead the market.

$36 billion annualized volume as of Feb 2025

Monthly B2B stablecoin flows grew from under $100M in early 2023 to over $3B by early 2025

Used for: vendor payments, invoicing, cross-border settlement, and treasury management

This is the clearest sign yet that enterprises are beginning to integrate stablecoins into real financial operations—not as a gimmick, but as a faster, cheaper, and programmable alternative to SWIFT, wires, and correspondent banking.

Stablecoins aren’t waiting for regulatory green lights or Layer-2 innovation—they’re already being used by businesses solving real pain points: currency conversion, cross-border speed, and capital efficiency.

The question is no longer whether stablecoins will be used for payments—it’s how much market share they’ll quietly absorb from outdated financial rails.

2. Stablecoin Duopoly 

While crypto headlines focus on Ethereum scaling, Solana performance, or the next big L2, the actual flow of stablecoin payments tells a different story.

And that story has two main characters: Tether’s USDT and the Tron blockchain.

Among the 31 payment firms surveyed:

USDT accounts for nearly 90% of all payment volume

Tron is the leading blockchain for settlement volume, followed by Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain.

That dominance is not just due to liquidity or market cap—it’s based on cost-efficiency, speed, and reliability at scale.

These aren’t design choices. They’re user preferences. For wallets, exchanges, and payment firms operating in emerging markets, Tron + USDT is the winning combo—not because it’s trendy, but because it works.

Africa provides a real-world case study of this infrastructure in motion.

Tron is the top chain in 6 of 10 African countries (Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia, etc)

Ethereum leads in Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, where more institutional or USDC usage exists

USDT dominates across all markets, though USDC shows growing adoption in Nigeria and South Africa

This isn’t crypto replacing local currency. It’s replacing broken cross-border infrastructure.

Many African countries face FX shortages, rigid capital controls, and poor USD access. Banks can’t move money across borders. Stablecoins—especially USDT on Tron—step in where legacy rails have failed.

As Yellow Card (the largest stablecoin company in Africa) notes, stablecoins have become essential tools for B2B trade, payroll, and treasury in regions where SWIFT is too expensive or simply doesn’t work.

This isn’t about which chain is most decentralized or which stablecoin has the best collateral model.

It’s about which rails get the job done.

Tron and USDT have quietly become the infrastructure for real-world value transfer in emerging markets. That should shift how we think about crypto’s adoption curve: not through app stores or dApps, but through invisible, programmable payments that just work, especially where they’re needed most.

3. From Mainstream to Meme

Gemini’s 2025 State of Crypto report offers a timely pulse check on how crypto adoption is spreading—and what users are actually doing with their portfolios.

From rising national ownership rates to the growing normalization of memecoins, the report reveals one thing above all: crypto is no longer a niche—it's a diverse, global asset class shaped by culture as much as capital.

Across the countries surveyed, ownership trends show steady growth, with a few standout shifts.

Singapore remains in the lead, with 28% of the population now owning crypto (up from 26% last year). It’s a modest gain, but from an already high base.

Meanwhile, the UK saw stronger acceleration, jumping from 18% to 24% in just one year—a sign that retail interest is deepening in traditionally cautious markets.

Other countries such as the United States, Brazil, and Australia showed more modest increases, suggesting adoption may be stabilizing or growing more gradually in those regions.

What may have started as a joke has turned into a defining feature of the 2025 crypto landscape. The report now includes an entire section dedicated to memecoins—a first—and the numbers speak volumes.

In the United States, 21% of respondents say at least half of their portfolio is allocated to memecoins. That’s the highest share of any country surveyed.

But it’s France that leads in general adoption:

67% of French crypto investors say they hold some exposure to memecoins. That’s 59% more than Singapore and 58% more than Italian investors.

At the other end of the spectrum? Australia, where only 11% of respondents say memecoins make up at least half of their portfolio.

As always, remember: these are self-reported surveys. They reflect sentiment more than precise portfolio breakdowns, and may miss nuances of actual on-chain behavior.

Still, the signals are important.

Crypto adoption is growing steadily across regions, and it’s not just being driven by institutional narratives or blue-chip tokens. Retail investors are shaping this space with cultural bets, speculative curiosity, and sometimes sheer meme power.

Memecoins, love them or not, are more than a passing phase. They’re part of how this industry evolves, responds, and expands.

Written by Pascal Abams — Research Analyst at NODO. I research on-chain trends, market narratives, and investment opportunities in crypto. If you have thoughts, insights, or just want to connect, reach out.

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