The EM thesis
01Total share
Emerging markets are a large share of global stablecoin infrastructure formation
1,625 of 6,104 tracked companies (27%) are based in an emerging market. Classification is country-level: IMF advanced economies (including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Australia) do not count as EM.
The EM thesis
02Bifurcation
Where stablecoins meet local economies leans EM. Where growth-stage and AI live leans US.
On/Off Ramps is the most EM-skewed category at 67% (402 of 601 disclosed-region cos). Agentic Payments is the least at 12%. The bifurcation tracks where the technology touches the real world: on-ramps, wallets, remittances, and consumer use cases over-index in EM.
The breakout
03Fastest forming
Agentic Payments leads on formation, the category is in earliest expansion
943 companies, more than any other category. 170 cos carry 2025 founding dates and 373 carry 2026 so far (recent-year dates are partly proxy-estimated, directional only). 97% of venture-staged cos are Pre-seed or Seed. No other category is forming at this pace.
The breakout
04YoY leader
The fastest-forming category by founding-year growth is Agentic Payments in 2026
Agentic Payments added the most new formations of any category with a meaningful base in 2025 (51 cos carry 2024 founding dates, 170 carry 2025). 11 months into 2026, Agentic Payments still leads on new formations. Recent-year founding dates are partly proxy-estimated, so read formation rankings as directional, not as exact growth rates.
Maturity & exits
05Maturity
Most of the map is still early stage
Wallet Infrastructure leads on maturity with 22.3% of its venture-staged companies past Seed (71 of 318), followed by Stablecoin Infrastructure at 19.5%. 0 of the 12 categories have more than a quarter of companies past Seed. At the other end, just 3.1% of Agentic Payments cos are. Formation has dramatically outpaced graduation past Seed.
Maturity & exits
06Acquirers
MoonPay and Stripe are each consolidating the stablecoin payments stack via M&A
MoonPay and Stripe have taken 3 of 22 confirmed acquisitions each (MoonPay: Iron, Meso, Helio · Stripe: Bridge $1.1B, Privy, Valor Connect). Other acquirers in the wave: Fireblocks (2), Polygon (2), Amadeus Protocol, Checkout.com, Circle. The big-payments incumbents are buying their way into stablecoin infra rather than building.
Africa and MENA anchors
07Africa
Nigeria is 60% of Africa's stablecoin universe
279 of 465 tracked African companies operate in Nigeria. Kenya (45) and South Africa (43) trail distantly. Africa's stablecoin story is effectively a Nigerian one.
Africa and MENA anchors
08MENA
UAE is 68% of MENA's tracked stablecoin universe
203 of 297 tracked MENA companies operate in the UAE, the most concentrated regional story outside the US. Dubai's VARA framework and Gulf capital flows produce a cluster you don't see elsewhere.
APAC and LatAm anchors
09APAC
Singapore anchors APAC at 25% of the region
182 of 718 APAC companies operate in Singapore. Hong Kong (111), India (85), and Australia (78) form the tier-2 cluster. Singapore's MAS licensing regime is producing the region's only clear hub.
APAC and LatAm anchors
10LatAm
LatAm leads with On/Off Ramps
Of 498 LatAm companies tracked, 101 sit in On/Off Ramps, ahead of Cross-Border B2B Payments (74).
The shape of the universe
11Recent formation
35% of 2025-2026 stablecoin formation operates in North America
559 of 1,576 recently-founded companies with disclosed region are based in North America, far ahead of Europe (322) and combined emerging markets (581). The agentic-payments wave that's driving 2025-2026 formation is heavily concentrated in US tech hubs, even as the all-time EM share holds at 27%.
The shape of the universe
12Top 5 countries
Stablecoin infrastructure spans 147 countries but is concentrated in 5
40% of all tracked companies sit in just five countries: United States (1,443), United Kingdom (302), Nigeria (279), Canada (210), United Arab Emirates (203). Four of the five are the largest country in their region. Outside the top 5, no other country tops Singapore's 182 companies.