Visa’s data refresh filters out more instances of the same funds moving repeatedly between wallets. Dollar volume and transaction count changed by different amounts, affecting comparisons of stablecoin usage.
Visa has lowered the adjusted dollar volume shown on its stablecoin dashboard after filtering out more automated activity. According to the company’s September 18 update log, the same refresh had a much smaller effect on adjusted transaction count, which declined by less than 2%. The lower volume figure therefore does not, by itself, show that people made fewer payments.
The Allium dataset used in the refresh expanded from about 15 million labeled addresses to roughly 600 million. Labels help identify whether an exchange, a smart contract or an automated wallet sits behind a transfer. Wider coverage allows more previously unidentified activity to be excluded from the adjusted total. Nor can the address figure be read as a customer count: one person or program can use multiple wallet addresses.
“The definition of adjusted volume is unchanged.”
The same funds, thousands of wallets
Visa’s example helps explain why dollar volume could change more than transaction count. A single automated program on Solana was identified moving the same stablecoins through thousands of temporary wallets. Similar pass-through activity, carrying large amounts in relatively few transactions, is now excluded from adjusted volume across multiple chains.
The distinction matters because each transfer does not necessarily represent a separate purchase or a new user. The gap between Solana transaction counts and real usage also matters when assessing the network’s economic activity. Visa’s example does not say that all Solana activity is artificial, or that the same program operates on every chain.
Adjusted volume still does not equal payments
The dashboard’s methodology classifies payments separately from other uses such as DeFi, investment activity and saving. Removing automated repetition does not turn every remaining transfer into a purchase of goods or services. Transfers below $250 are also categorized as “retail sized” on the basis of their value; that label is not proof of a purchase.
The 2% threshold refers to transaction count. Visa does not apply it to the dollar-volume reduction. The update log gives no matched before-and-after dollar totals, so it cannot support a percentage calculation for the fall in volume.
Allium’s data documentation also separates raw transfers, token supply and adjusted volume metrics into different records. Funds moving between addresses, tokens in circulation and payment usage answer different questions. When comparing growth figures in the stablecoin sector, which activity is counted—and when the data was refreshed—forms part of the result itself.
