Fortune 500 companies globally double down on blockchain: Stablecoin volumes now rival Visa

Six in ten Fortune 500 executives report their companies are pursuing blockchain initiatives, a major shift in corporate technology adoption. Nearly one in five Fortune 500 executives indicate onchain initiatives are a key part of their company's future strategy, marking a 47% year-on-year increase. More than four in five institutional investors plan to increase their crypto exposure this year. "Sixteen years after the launch of Bitcoin — and with it, the modern blockchain — it is safe to say that the future of money is here," highlights Coinbase's "State of Crypto" report.

Among Fortune 500 companies, onchain initiatives and use cases are diversifying, with payments or settlement lead with 47% of use cases, followed by supply-chain management (44%) and blockchain infrastructure (40%). There were 17 unique onchain initiatives announced by F100 companies in Q1 2025, tying the second-highest quarterly activity recorded, the report says, adding that over the last three quarters (Q3 2024 – Q1 2025), there were 46 unique onchain initiatives.

The report looks at initiatives by Fortune 100 companies from Q1 2020 to early April 2025; a survey of 100 Fortune 500 executives; and a survey of 251 financial decision-makers at US businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Here's what it finds out.

SMBs lead crypto adoption

The highest institutional adoption of crypto is seen across small and medium businesses (SMBs). The number of SMBs using crypto has doubled (34% in 2025 vs. 17% in 2024) year-on-year. The number of SMBs using stablecoins has also doubled, as has the number of SMBs that have paid or accepted a payment in crypto, the report reveals. SMBs recognise crypto's potential to address their financial pain points. About 82% of SMBs say crypto can help solve at least one of their business's pain points, up from 68% a year ago.

The top five ways crypto can help address SMBs' financial pain points are fees or transaction processing time, handling cross-border payments, accepting customer payment methods, managing multiple payment systems and processes, and cybersecurity. The report shows more than half (57%) of SMBs agree that adopting crypto will save their business money, up from 42% a year ago.

Stablecoin's unprecedented growth

Organic stablecoin transfer volume has reached unprecedented levels, with the two highest monthly volume transfers in history occurring in the last year. December 2024 set a monthly volume record of $719 billion, followed by April 2025's $717.1 billion. Stablecoin annual settlement volume has grown dramatically since 2019, surpassing annual settlement volume for both the global remittances market and PayPal, while approaching Visa’s settlement volumes, the report claims. "Over the same period, stablecoin ownership has shown consistent growth, accounting for over 160 million holders in May 2025."

Stablecoin supply now accounts for just under 10% of US currency in circulation as of early May 2025. The total stablecoin supply reached $247 billion at the end of May 2025, marking a nearly 54% increase from the previous year.

Tokenisation of real-world assets

Real-world asset tokenisation has seen more than 245-fold growth from $85 million in April 2020 to over $21 billion by April 2025, says the report. Private credit dominates at 61% of total tokenised assets, followed by treasuries (30%), commodities (7%), and institutional funds (2%), the data shows. Examples of business use cases for real-world assets are tokenised treasuries or cash management, tokenised invoices or accounts receivables, and tokenised private credit.

Institutional investors increase crypto exposure

The year 2024 saw a year for crypto driven by interest in new ETF offerings. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs rank among the most successful ETFs ever launched. The top 10 Bitcoin ETFs attracted $50 billion in cumulative inflows, two times the cumulative inflows of the top 10 all-time ETFs in their first year. While the record-breaking ETF volumes are driven by retail (retail holds 79% of Bitcoin ETFs), institutions have adopted Bitcoin ETFs at a record pace.

In their first three quarters after launch, Bitcoin ETFs outperformed other top-performing ETFs in both institutional AUM and holders. Ethereum ETFs attracted $3.5 billion net inflows and outperformed other top-performing ETFs in both institutional AUM and holders in the first quarter after launch.

Need for greater regulatory clarity

Nine in 10 Fortune 500 executives agree that clear regulation is needed to support innovation, says the report. More than three in five investors cite greater regulatory clarity as the next catalyst for growth of the digital-asset industry. Nearly three in four (72%) of SMBs say they would be more likely to consider using crypto in their business if the market structure (i.e., rules and regulations for business use) for crypto were clearly defined.

Coinbase calls for greater regulatory certainty to nurture crypto talent. Despite the U.S. still having 39% of developers (as of November 2024), its share has halved since 2015, with India being the second-largest contributor at 12%.