The new joint partnership between WalletConnect and Polygon Labs indicates stablecoin payments have gone beyond experiments and into full-scale infrastructure. The report describes the use of blockchain-based payments that have reached global scale due to improvements in connectivity, settlement, and user experience.
Stablecoin payments just crossed the infrastructure threshold.
We partnered with @0xPolygon to break down what’s actually happening in 2026, where the volume is, who’s driving it, and what comes next.
Here’s what the data shows 👇 pic.twitter.com/jyjgVxYBAX
— WalletConnect (@WalletConnect) April 17, 2026
WalletConnect, already integrating over 500 million wallets with a network of over 700 providers, has emerged as an intermediary node in connecting users to blockchain apps. In the meantime, Polygon has already handled transfer volumes in excess of 2.4 trillion stablecoin, making it one of the leading settlement layers when it comes to real-world payments.
Polygon’s Open Money Stack Targets Legacy Inefficiencies
The solution Polygon offers to these difficulties is its Open Money Stack, an interoperable infrastructure layer to enable payment through stablecoin, currently available in the financial system. The system allows settlement in real time at low cost and 24/7 with compliance and scalability.
The final element of stablecoin adoption, according to Polygon CEO Marc Boiron, has been smooth integration with the real world. The Open Money Stack seeks to fill that gap, letting institutions easily move money like data flows on the internet.
WalletConnect Strengthens Polygon’s Ecosystem Reach
Walletconnect is vital in increasing the reach of Polygon by bridging wallets, exchanges, and decentralized applications. The integration ensures that developers and businesses can get users on board more easily and help in cross-platform transactions.
The joint venture has also contributed to faster adoption of Polygon-based stablecoins and POL token, which further assists the network to gain traction in both crypto-native and enterprise settings.
Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect, highlighted that payments will rely on ecosystem connectivity in the future.
WalletConnect Pay Brings End-to-End Payment Integration
One of the biggest points of the report is the End-to-End solution, WalletConnect Pay, where merchants and payment service providers can accept stablecoins with a single integration.
In contrast to standalone crypto products, WalletConnect Pay is part of existing checkout systems along with cards and bank transfers. With access to more than 500 million wallets, the system is accompanied by instant settlement, which makes it a robust substitute to a traditional payment rail.
Demand Signals Show Rapid Growth
The report shows strong evidence of increased demand for crypto payments. In a survey of 1,422 users, 96% indicated their desire to use crypto as payment, but many did not find merchants to do so.
The crypto card spending increased by 525% in 2025, and the average order value of a crypto transaction was 15-25% higher than traditional card payments. Meanwhile, 69 percent of users have noticed giving up on at least one crypto payment in the last six months, indicating payment-process friction.
The amount of WalletConnect network data indicates another dimension of the opportunity. Out of 1.11 million wallets examined, there are 36.3 billion in stablecoins, with an average balance of 32,704.
Polygon Leads Stablecoin Activity
The number of transactions with stablecoins on Polygon is still growing at a rapid pace, especially regarding $USDC. The network had a weekly transaction volume of 27.5 million $USDC, outperforming Solana that had 22 million $USDC, in a week.
Polygon also processed 102.8 million $USDC transfers, which was 46% of the global $USDC transfer volume and provided 2.6 times the volume compared to the next largest chain.
Based on the WalletConnect data, the trend is similar in the sense that in a week in March, the flow of $USDC was 4.38 billion in its network.
Building the Financial Internet
The partnership of WalletConnect and Polygon is an indicator of a wider change in world finance. Now with the stablecoin transactions volume of $46 trillion already in the books, usability, compliance and interoperability are taking center stage.
With blockchain infrastructure becoming transparent to the end user, usage is projected to increase faster among enterprises, fintech providers, and payment providers.
With Polygon paying attention to settlement potential, and WalletConnect relying on the breadth of its network, the two platforms are coming to represent what they call the next stage of the financial internet, where money flows as easily as information.
