How US Firms and Small Businesses Are Increasing Crypto Adoption: Coinbase Research

It has been over a decade and a half since Bitcoin and blockchain technologies emerged. However, the cryptocurrency sector has witnessed more widespread adoption than ever before over the past year.

According to the State of Crypto 2025 report from the digital asset exchange Coinbase’s research team, small business operations and real-world use cases, like payroll and remittances from institutional investors, have been driving stablecoin growth.

U.S. Businesses Embrace Crypto

Coinbase conducted surveys for small and medium businesses (SMBs) and institutional investors in April and January 2025, respectively, for the report. The exchange found that claimed ownership of crypto is more common than people think; a rising number of institutions are working on blockchain initiatives and have included such plans in their corporate strategies.

Six in ten executives of Fortune 500 (F500) companies said their firms are building on-chain initiatives. Roughly 47% of respondents reported that their companies have increased their investment in blockchain technology. Also, the number of on-chain projects per company has risen 67% year-on-year (YoY) from 5.8 to 9.7.

The top types of on-chain initiatives seen among the F500 include payment/settlements, cross-border transfers, supply chain management, corporate treasury, and blockchain infrastructure. Coinbase found that 17 unique on-chain initiatives were announced by F100 companies last quarter and 46 between Q3 2024 and Q1 2025. There is also increased diversity from financial service and technology companies to auto and transportation, retail, food and beverage, and healthcare firms.

How Can Regulatory Clarity Help?

Examining SMBs, Coinbase found that 34% of such businesses currently use crypto; 46% of those who do not are likely to start within the next three years. At least 82% of SMBs believe crypto can address some of their financial pain points.

“2025 has been a triple-double for crypto among SMBs,” Coinbase stated, adding that the number of SMBs using crypto and stablecoins has doubled YoY.

This increased crypto adoption has driven stablecoin transfer volumes to unprecedented levels. The sector witnessed its two highest monthly organic transfer volumes in December 2024 ($719 billion) and April 2025 ($717.1 billion).

Since 2019, the number of people holding stablecoins has grown to over 160 million. Stablecoin holders have surpassed the population of the ten largest cities in the world combined and exceed the 142 million combined users of the U.S. Big Four mobile banking apps.

Meanwhile, Coinbase highlighted the role regulatory clarity could play in the full realization of crypto’s potential. Nine in ten F500 executives agree with the exchange, as well as 72% of SMBs.