Automated trading fueled 70% of stablecoin transaction volume last year, with Base surpassing Ethereum due to bot-driven activity, a survey reveals.
A new survey by crypto exchange CEX.IO, which cited Allium’s data, reveals that automated trading bots handled 70% of stablecoin transaction volume in 2024, based on an analysis of blockchain activity across Ethereum, Base, and Solana.
Per the exchange, on average, 77% of 2024’s total stablecoin transaction volume fell into the unadjusted category, largely driven by bot transactions.
The bot activity experienced a fourfold increase compared to 2023, increasing its share from 80% to 90% in the unadjusted category. The exchange says this distilled figure means that “70% of stablecoin transaction volume in 2024 was related to bot transfers.”
“USDC dominated the unadjusted category, making up over 65% of the volume. This underscores the fact that much of USDC’s transaction activity was driven by bots.”
CEX.IO
Coinbase’s layer-2 network Base saw the biggest impact as bots pushed it ahead of Ethereum in raw numbers, the survey report reveals.
“Networks such as Solana and Base, where USDC supply dominates, saw unadjusted transactions represent over 98% of stablecoin activity as of December 2024. Due to the bot activity, Base even managed to surpass Ethereum in total stablecoin transaction volume in Q4 2024.”
CEX.IO
The study also found that without bot activity, the stablecoin transaction landscape would be “completely different.” Adjusted stablecoin transfer volume doubled in 2024, although it “still lagged behind the growth of bot-driven activity,” according to CEX.IO.
Tether’s (USDT) remained the dominant stablecoin for “organic” transactions, accounting for over 68% of adjusted volume. PayPal’s (PYUSD) showed the highest adoption growth, tripling its share in adjusted transactions, but still represented less than 2% of “organic” transaction activity.
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