Coinbase CEO: The platform processes nearly $1 trillion in stablecoin payments annually and holds $20 billion in USDC

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disclosed three platform-level data points on Thursday: the annual stablecoin transaction volume is nearly $1 trillion, the platform holds approximately $20 billion in USDC, and the x402 payment protocol processed over 160 million autonomous transactions in the past year. According to SEC filings, Coinbase's average USDC holdings in the first quarter reached a historic high of $19 billion, with over 25% of the total USDC circulation located within the Coinbase ecosystem.

The total circulation of USDC currently stands at $75 billion. The $1 trillion stablecoin transaction volume refers to transfers made through Coinbase's payment infrastructure, in comparison, Visa is expected to process about $14.5 trillion in fiscal year 2025. The x402 protocol is named after the HTTP 402 error code and allows AI agents to make on-chain payments in USDC directly within network requests, with transactions over $1 accounting for 95% of x402 transfer volume.

The Base chain has processed $190 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume this year, with over 90% of x402 transaction volume operating on Base. Founding members of the x402 foundation include Google, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, and AWS.