Corporate adoption of stablecoins for production use cases has doubled to 18 percent in the past year, according to EY-Parthenon's 2026 Blockchain Payments Survey—a sharp acceleration from 2025 that signals digital assets are moving from pilot phase into core business operations.
The survey polled 521 decision-makers across corporations and financial institutions. Fifteen percent of corporates now use tokenized deposits, embedding stablecoin capabilities directly into existing payment workflows and treasury functions.
Financial institutions are committing capital and resources at scale. Sixty-nine percent of these institutions currently offer stablecoin services or plan to launch them within two years—up from just 30 percent in 2025. Among banks specifically, 49 percent already provide or intend to provide tokenized deposit offerings within the same timeframe.
Cross-border business payments remain the primary entry point for blockchain adoption. Between 50 and 53 percent of respondents have either deployed or are actively exploring stablecoins and tokenized deposits for cross-border supplier payments or B2B payment acceptance.
The pain points driving this shift are concrete. Fifty-six percent of respondents cite slow processing and settlement as a friction point. Fifty-two percent identified foreign exchange costs and spreads. Forty-eight percent flagged regulatory, sanctions, and compliance delays, while 36 percent pointed to correspondent banking fees.
Financial institutions see these frictions as the economic case for blockchain rails. Faster settlement and lower costs rank as the leading drivers for stablecoin and tokenized deposit adoption—not regulatory tailwinds or technological novelty.
Beyond basic money movement, tokenized asset settlement emerged as the most frequently cited opportunity to add value on blockchain rails, selected by 63 percent of financial institution respondents. This reflects growing appetite to use blockchain-based money as a foundational settlement mechanism for other digital assets.
The market has moved from theoretical debate to practical execution. Regulatory clarity combined with speed, cost, and liquidity benefits is now driving measurable adoption rather than exploratory pilots.
