Lithuania-based FinteqHub has reported a 37% drop in direct crypto payments among businesses and a shift towards payment orchestration.
The payment orchestration provider examined how companies used cryptocurrencies for operational payments in the first half of 2026 and compared the results with the same period in 2025. The analysis covered businesses’ choice of payment methods and the regulatory and operational challenges they faced. According to FinteqHub, the share of companies settling directly in crypto fell from 62% to 39%. The company attributes the trend to tighter regulation, compliance uncertainty, and operational risk, which have prompted businesses to reconsider how they handle digital asset payments.
Stablecoins gain ground as volatile assets lose share
The study tracked how many companies used Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and USDC as payment instruments. A single company could use several at once. The share of companies paying in Bitcoin had the biggest decrease, dropping from 22% in H1 2025 to 14% in H1 2026. That is a fall of eight percentage points, or 36% year on year. Ethereum usage declined from 9% to 7%, and USDT from 47% to 34%. USDC moved in the opposite direction, rising from 17% to 31%, an increase of 82.4%.
FinteqHub defines direct crypto payments as settlements in digital assets between payer and recipient, with no automatic conversion or dynamic route selection. Its findings indicate that businesses are not exiting digital assets. They use volatile cryptocurrencies less often as standalone payment methods and instead fold them into broader infrastructure built around stablecoins, automatic conversion, and routing. In FinteqHub’s assessment, predictable payment value, liquidity, and ease of settlement now matter more to companies than access to any particular crypto asset. As a result, the payment function continues to move from volatile cryptocurrencies to stablecoins.
Smart routing usage more than doubles
Changes in payment infrastructure were more marked than the shifts between assets. The share of companies using automatic crypto-to-fiat conversion rose from 28% to 46%, and stablecoin settlement grew from 34% to 54%. Use of smart routing and payment orchestration more than doubled, from 21% to 47%.
The data points to a move away from selecting a single instrument, whether BTC, ETH, USDT, or fiat, towards systems that make the choice automatically. These systems weigh cost, channel availability, processing speed, and compliance requirements to determine the route for each transaction. FinteqHub links this model to the wider uptake of automation and AI in payments.
Fiat remains the core settlement layer
Despite growing stablecoin use, fiat currencies still account for most orchestrated payment flows, including cross-border settlements. FinteqHub estimates that fiat makes up 69% of flows in orchestrated scenarios, compared with 22% for stablecoins and 9% for traditional cryptocurrencies. The figures suggest that companies are supplementing their existing fiat infrastructure with digital assets rather than replacing it. They use stablecoins and cryptocurrencies as separate rails where these offer speed, cost, or accessibility advantages for cross-border transfers.
FinteqHub expects the next stage of digital payments to involve deeper integration of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins into AI-driven smart routing. In that scenario, the digital assets used for payments would no longer be visible to end users.
