The first headline number concerns who is using NOWPayments. From January to July 2026, SaaS and e-commerce businesses made up 55.54% of the processor’s classified partners. A year earlier, that figure was 48.26%.
That’s a meaningful change in the customer mix. Software subscriptions and online shops now account for more than half of the partners NOWPayments could classify.
Meanwhile, trading’s share of payments has shrunk.
The network data is where things get specific. $USDT on TRON accounted for 54.58% of successful payments in e-commerce marketplaces. In the trading category, the same token-and-network pairing took just 12.04%.
$USDT still leads, but $USDC is gaining
On raw volume, $USDT remains the heavyweight on NOWPayments. It held a 66.92% share of stablecoin transaction volume on the platform in the first half of 2026.
That dominance came alongside a 14.99% year-over-year decline in volume.
$USDC told a different story. Its transaction count rose 209.02% year-over-year over the same period.
That figure measures the number of transactions, not their dollar value. So $USDC is being used far more often, even if $USDT still moves the bulk of the money.
The research summary frames this as broader adoption of $USDC among retailers and service providers.
NOWPayments had already published data in August and October 2026 pointing to $USDT’s lead in transaction volume on its platform. The new report builds on those earlier releases by adding Glassnode’s on-chain layer.
Why on-chain data and checkout data belong together
Most stablecoin analysis looks at the blockchain itself. That reveals supply, transfers and wallet activity, but it can’t easily separate a merchant payment from an exchange shuffle.
Payment processors see the opposite side. They know what a transaction was for, but only within their own customer base.
The report pitches its findings as guidance on which coins and networks a business should accept. For a merchant, that choice affects fees, settlement speed and whether customers can pay at all.
What this means for merchants and the stablecoin market
For businesses, the immediate takeaway is that one size does not fit all. A marketplace selling goods online appears to live in a $USDT-on-TRON world, based on the 54.58% figure. A trading-focused business sees a much more fragmented mix.
The $USDC trend adds a second consideration. A 209.02% jump in transaction count implies a growing number of customers who want to pay that way.
For the stablecoin issuers, the data hints at a split in roles. $USDT keeps the volume crown, but its 14.99% decline shows that lead is not growing on NOWPayments. $USDC appears to be winning on frequency.
There are limits worth keeping in mind. These figures come from NOWPayments’ own partners, not the entire market. A single processor’s customer base can tilt results toward particular regions, networks or industries.
TRON’s strength in e-commerce, set against its far weaker position in trading payments, shows how a chain can dominate one use case while trailing in another.
The Money in Motion series is positioned as ongoing, so future installments may show whether these trends hold. The key numbers to track are $USDC’s growth rate, $USDT’s volume share and whether commerce keeps crowding out trading on platforms like NOWPayments.
