WalletConnect Unveils Vision for the Future of Payments: A Unified Standard and Stablecoin Adoption

WalletConnect, the connectivity layer for the financial internet, announced the release of its WalletConnect Pay Whitepaper and wallet_pay, a new open standard for onchain payments designed to bring feature parity with traditional payment systems like Visa and Apple Pay. The whitepaper outlines how onchain payments can unlock programmability, cost efficiency, and global accessibility for merchants and users worldwide.

The wallet_pay standard which will start to roll out to all WalletConnect Certified wallets in Q1 eliminates token and network friction, introduces compliance-ready primitives, and delivers merchant-grade capabilities such as authorizations, recurring billing, loyalty integration, and fraud protection. The framework establishes a consistent interface between wallets, merchants, and payment service providers (PSPs), akin to ISO20022, ISO8583 or SWIFT messaging standards in traditional payments, creating a unified ecosystem where users can complete crypto checkouts in a single, seamless interaction.

Major merchants and payment platforms are already using WalletConnect as part of their payments offering and will be able to benefit from WalletConnect Pay functionality as it rolls out – these include: Coinbase Commerce, Stripe, Shopify, dtcpay, BitPay, Moonpay, Shift 4, BoomFi, Coinify, Cryptomus, Alchemy Pay, Gate Pay, Mesh, CoinGate and DePay.

Across these integrations, merchants are embracing onchain checkout both at Point of Sale and online to reduce costs, expand global access, and meet growing consumer demand for crypto-native payments. Transaction volume across the WalletConnect network has continued to grow steadily in 2025, reflecting the accelerating adoption of self-custody commerce.

“We’re at an inflection point for onchain payments,” said Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect. “Stablecoins are transforming global commerce, but the experience has remained fragmented. WalletConnect Pay establishes the common standard the industry needs and the response so far has been fantastic. Stablecoins and onchain payments are inevitable, our goal is to make the path to mainstream adoption as seamless as possible.”

Over $1.08 billion in payments are currently powered by the WalletConnect Network. While stablecoins dominate overall payment volume, native tokens like ETH continue to drive significant usage:

• USDC — 54% of payment volume (20% of transactions)
  USDT — 11% of payment volume (13% of transactions)

• ETH — 31% of payment volume (54% of transactions)

• Other tokens (POL, BNB, SOL, etc.) make up the remaining share.

While stablecoins (USDC + USDT) account for ~65% of total payment volume, ETH leads by transaction count. This reflects growing adoption of ETH as a direct payment asset in services such as Coinbase Commerce, where ETH payments are often accepted and seamlessly converted behind the scenes.

“Every extra step in a payment flow kills conversion. Collapsing ‘connect’ and ‘pay’ into a single action moves crypto closer to the checkout UX people already expect. It’s great to see WalletConnect pushing the industry in this direction. We need standards like WalletConnect Pay if we want consumer crypto payments to scale beyond early adopters. We’re glad to support this effort and we’re excited to see the impact.” – Justin Gainsley, Payments Product Lead at Coinbase

With the release of the WalletConnect Pay Whitepaper, WalletConnect expects both payments and stablecoin adoption to accelerate as more merchants integrate onchain payments for goods and services.

In Asia, WalletConnect partnered with dtcpay, a licensed Major Payment Institution (MPI) regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, marking its first MPI partner in the region. Through this collaboration, dtcpay will integrate WalletConnect Pay in its point of sale devices to enable stablecoin-based payments in USDC, USDT, and WUSD, delivering secure, embedded checkout experiences for merchants and consumers. More partnerships are expected to be announced with major payment service providers at WalletCon in November and early 2026.