For years, crypto payments have been discussed as a future opportunity.
What’s changed is that the future already arrived, quietly, at scale, and backed by real payment volumes.
At WalletConnect, we didn’t wake up one day and decide to “try crypto payments.”
From Coinbase Commerce to Shopify to Stripe to Coingate, these are just a few examples of companies using WalletConnect to enable crypto payments.
The numbers are no longer debatable
Stablecoin transfer volume reached ~$27.6 trillion, surpassing the combined volume of Visa and Mastercard for the first time.
Let that sink in.
This isn’t theoretical usage. This is real value moving across real rails, every day, for commerce, remittances, and payments.
At the same time, the user base has reached mainstream scale:
- 560+ million people globally now hold crypto
- Millions actively hold and use USDC alone
- Stablecoins are being used because they are fast, global, and predictable, not because they are “crypto.”
This is what payments look like when they’re native to the internet.
Payment companies are already validating the shift
Late last year, Square announced that it was enabling merchants to accept Bitcoin.
This matters.
Square isn’t a crypto-native startup. It’s a global payment platform trusted by millions of merchants. When a company like Square ships crypto acceptance, it sends a clear signal:
Crypto is becoming a standard payment method, not an experiment.
But it’s also revealing where the market still falls short.
Bitcoin-only acceptance is a starting point.
Merchants and PSPs need more than that.
They need:
- Any wallet that their customers already use
- Any asset customers prefer to pay with (especially stablecoins)
- A flow that fits directly into existing payment stacks
That’s the gap WalletConnect Pay exists to fill.
Why WalletConnect sees what others don’t
We’re in a unique position.
WalletConnect already sits inside payment stacks, wallets, and apps, not on the sidelines.
In 2025 alone, the WalletConnect Network facilitated $400B+ in onchain activity and connected 55.5 million users across 700+ wallets.
We regularly hear from wallet partners: “You have more industry data than we do.”
That’s because WalletConnect isn’t guessing where payments and stablecoin volumes are headed; we’re watching them happen in real time.
Merchant demand is no longer hypothetical
This isn’t just top-down innovation from payment platforms.
It’s bottom-up demand from merchants.
Last week, we posted a message on X announcing our Ingenico partnership. The response was overwhelming from merchants, not just one or two messages; it was hundreds.
Coffee shops. Wine bars. Retail stores. Local businesses.
All are asking the same thing: “How do we accept crypto?” and “Can we start using WalletConnect Pay?”
Crypto payments don’t need new rails; they need compatibility
The mistake the industry made was treating crypto payments as something separate from payments.
Merchants don’t want new settlement logic.
PSPs don’t want new reconciliation flows.
Compliance teams don’t want bespoke systems.
WalletConnect Pay works because it makes crypto compatible with how payments already work.
- One familiar APM-style integration
- No new routing logic
- No changes to settlement or reconciliation
- Works within existing PSP compliance frameworks
Crypto doesn’t replace PSPs.
It expands what they can offer.
This isn’t about competing, it’s about collaborating
We don’t want to replace Square, Stripe, or any PSP.
We want to work with them.
Imagine:
- Square powered by WalletConnect Pay → any wallet, any asset, anywhere
- Cash App is evolving into a true global spending app via stablecoins, just by implementing the WalletConnect Pay SDK.
- PSPs offering crypto acceptance without adding operational risk
WalletConnect already operates under the hood of payment companies today.
That’s where we’re most effective.
The takeaway for payment leaders
Crypto payments are no longer early. They’re no longer speculative. And they’re no longer optional.
The question isn’t if payment companies will support crypto.
It’s how simply and reliably they do it.
The winners won’t be the ones who bolt crypto on.
They’ll be the ones who make it feel invisible.
That’s what WalletConnect Pay is built for.