Bitcoin has quietly joined the ranks of the world’s largest payment networks. Over the past 90 days, its network settled $6.9 trillion — nearly the same volume Visa and Mastercard process together in the same period. At first glance, it might look like Bitcoin is on its way to becoming a mainstream payment method. The reality is far more nuanced.

Bitcoin is growing, but not like a payment card

High settlement volumes on the blockchain don’t mean people are suddenly buying groceries with bitcoin. Much of this activity comes from exchanges, investments, cross-border transfers, and large institutional movements.

According to Glassnode’s Q4 2025 report, once internal transactions are filtered out, Bitcoin would process about $870 billion per quarter. Impressive, but still below Visa, which handles around $39.7 billion per day, and Mastercard with $26.2 billion.

The difference is clear: payment cards are used for everyday purchases, while Bitcoin remains primarily a tool for value transfer and trading.

Why you still can’t pay with Bitcoin almost anywhere

Despite rising network throughput, bitcoin as a payment method remains niche.

Visa is accepted at 175 million locations globally. Bitcoin at roughly 20,000. The gap spans several orders of magnitude.

Bitcoin still doesn’t meet the early vision of “digital cash.” Instead, it serves more as an investment asset or a way to move money across borders without banks.

Stablecoins: fast, cheap, and… full of bots

Alongside Bitcoin, stablecoins have become a popular way to move money cheaply and around the clock. They facilitate about $225 billion in daily trading volume, according to Glassnode.

But up to 70% of that activity comes from automated bots. Real user-to-user transactions make up only about 20%, as shown by CEX.io’s analysis. The rest consists of internal exchange flows or interactions with smart contracts.

Regulators, researchers say, must distinguish organic use from purely technical activity to understand the true economic impact of stablecoins.

Sources:

https://get.glassnode.com/digital-assets-report-q4-2025/

https://x.com/glassnode/status/1996050852390601033

https://btcmap.org/map#2/24.22074/-2.45596

https://cex.io