EY: 18% of corporates have used stablecoins as 69% of financial firms plan to

EY-Parthenon said on Oct. 20, 2026, that 18% of corporates have used stablecoins and 15% have used tokenized deposits, based on a survey of 521 corporate and financial-institution professionals in July and August.

Corporate stablecoin use has doubled since 2025, EY-Parthenon says

"Stablecoin adoption among corporates has doubled since 2025," EY-Parthenon wrote. Of the 383 corporates in the sample, 21% have used stablecoins, tokenized deposits or both.

Another 33% of corporates are likely to adopt stablecoins or tokenized deposits in the next 6-12 months, EY-Parthenon said. Among corporates using or exploring stablecoins, 88% report or expect better cash flow cycles.

Financial firms are moving faster than their corporate clients

Among the 138 financial institutions surveyed, 69% already offer or plan to launch stablecoin services within two years, according to EY-Parthenon. Among banks, 49% offer or plan tokenized deposits over the same period.

Only 9% of those institutions plan to build the capability fully in-house. Competitive differentiation is the top driver for 66%, up from 52% in 2025, while revenue generation fell from 59% to 41%.

Differentiation gained 14 percentage points and revenue lost 18 points, our calculation from the two reported years.

Regulatory uncertainty is the leading barrier, cited by 76%

Regulatory uncertainty is the leading barrier to adoption, cited by 76% of respondents, EY-Parthenon said. Limited ecosystem adoption follows at 65%, and lack of ERP/TMS integration at 54%.

Corporates name settlement delays (56%) and high foreign exchange costs (52%) as the leading cross-border pain points. Some 53% of respondents use or explore blockchain payments for cross-border supplier payments.

Supply data and two other surveys give a mixed cross-check

Stablecoin supply stood at $300.088 billion on Oct. 26, according to DefiLlama, down 0.73% over seven days and 0.94% over 30 days. The figures were retrieved Oct. 26.

The Bank for International Settlements put market capitalization at around $320 billion at the end of May 2026, in its Annual Economic Report chapter. That implies a 6.2% decline, our calculation, though the two trackers may count differently.

Tether's USDT ($182.281 billion) and USD Coin ($71.691 billion) make up 84.6% of supply, our calculation from the same DefiLlama page.

Interest among users points the same way. In a YouGov survey with BVNK, 77% of respondents said they would open a stablecoin wallet if their bank or fintech app offered one. Fieldwork ran in September and October 2025.

EY's separate institutional investor survey, fielded in mid-to-late January 2026 among more than 350 investors, found 86% already using or interested in stablecoins.

Report in numbers

Period: EY-Parthenon fieldwork in July and August 2026; DefiLlama retrieved Oct. 26, 2026. The supply change is our calculation: 300.088 / 320 - 1.

What the data does not show

EY-Parthenon did not specify the survey mode or margin of error, and 53% of respondents are based mainly in the U.S. Announced plans to launch are not live volumes.

The BIS and DefiLlama figures use different methods and dates, so the supply comparison is indicative. No tier-1 quote from the last 30 days was available, so none is used.

How we reported this: We opened the EY-Parthenon page, DefiLlama (retrieved Oct. 26, 2026), the BIS chapter, BVNK's report page and EY's investor survey. Calculations: 66 - 52, 59 - 41, 300.088 / 320 - 1 and (182.281 + 71.691) / 300.088.