Stablecoin payment questions, answered from the record
Eight questions people actually ask, each answered from the merchant records at build time. Every answer carries the number it is out of, the date it was computed, and a link to the record behind it.
Merchants
102
with documented stablecoin acceptance
Verified
63
checked against the merchant’s own pages
Sources
235
primary sources cited
Changes
127
dated change events on record
Computed · dataset version
2026-09-25.109.54d637c · every share is a share of 102 unless it says otherwise
Where can you actually spend stablecoins?
Asked as
where can I spend USDC what can you buy with stablecoins stores that accept USDT
Short answer
As of 25 September 2026, StablecoinSpend documents 102 merchants that accept at least one named stablecoin, of which 63 are verified against the merchant's own published pages. The largest categories are shopping & retail (40), travel (18), cloud hosting (17), security & privacy (17) and web hosting (17). Most are online only: 80 of 102.
Two things separate this from a marketing number. It counts merchants, not transactions or volume. And it excludes 4 businesses that confirm they take crypto but name no stablecoin — a gateway that "supports crypto" has not been documented as taking USDC.
Documented acceptance by category, out of 102 merchants. A merchant in a subcategory counts in both, so these sum above 102.
Asked as
USDC vs USDT which is more accepted most widely accepted stablecoin can I pay with PYUSD
Short answer
USDC. 87 of 102 merchants with documented stablecoin acceptance (85.3%) take USDC; 60 (58.8%) take USDT. DAI at 30, USDP at 24, GUSD at 22 and EURC at 20 follow. A merchant accepting several coins counts under each, so the shares sum above 100%. Figures as of 25 September 2026.
The ordering inverts the two largest assets' market capitalisation, and the reason looks structural rather than preferential: payment gateways tend to enable USDC by default, so a merchant often gains it without making a decision. 13 distinct stablecoins appear in the dataset.
Merchants documented as accepting each stablecoin, out of 102.
Asked as
USDC on Base or Ethereum for payments cheapest chain to pay a merchant does this merchant accept USDT on Tron
Short answer
The one the merchant documents — and often nobody documents one: 45 of 102 merchants (44.1%) publish no settlement network at all. Among those that do, Ethereum 48, Solana 36, Base 35, Polygon 35 and Arbitrum 27. A merchant listing a coin and a chain has not necessarily said the two go together, so confirm the exact pair at checkout before sending. Figures as of 25 September 2026.
Merchants documenting settlement on each network, out of 102. A merchant naming several networks counts under each.
Asked as
web hosting that accepts USDC VPS crypto payment no KYC pay for a server with stablecoins
Short answer
Yes. 17 of 102 merchants with documented stablecoin acceptance are web hosting providers. Verified examples taking USDC include HOSTKEY (USDC on Ethereum, via BitPay), Hostwinds (USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base, via Stripe) and RackNerd (USDC accepted, network not documented, via Coinify). Checked 5–22 September 2026.
Hosting is a recurring, cross-border, digitally delivered service sold to a technically capable audience, which is why it has among the deepest coverage of any category. The terms that bite are on the profiles rather than the marketing pages: Hostwinds, for one, states that cryptocurrency payments are non-refundable and cannot be used for automatic recurring billing.
Web hosting providers with documented stablecoin acceptance of USDC, ordered by the Spending Finder's own scoring.
Asked as
VPN that accepts USDT anonymous VPN payment crypto buy a VPN with USDC
Short answer
Yes. 20 of 102 merchants with documented stablecoin acceptance are VPN and privacy services. Verified examples include hide.me (USDT on Ethereum), NymVPN (USDT on Tron) and Windscribe (USDC on Ethereum). Checked 7–22 September 2026.
Paying a VPN in stablecoins keeps your card and billing address out of the provider’s records. It does not make the payment private: public-chain transfers are permanently recorded, and if the wallet was funded from an exchange account in your name the link is reconstructable. Several large providers confirm "cryptocurrency" without naming an asset, which is why their records carry no coin.
VPN and privacy services with documented stablecoin acceptance, ordered by the Spending Finder's own scoring.
Can you book a flight or a hotel with stablecoins?
Asked as
book flights with USDC hotels that accept crypto airline accepts stablecoin
Short answer
Yes. 20 of 102 merchants with documented stablecoin acceptance are travel merchants. Verified examples include CryptoRefills (coins named, networks not documented), Alternative Airlines (USDC on Solana, via xMoney and Binance Pay) and Bidali (coins named, networks not documented). Checked 12–22 September 2026.
Travel merchants with documented stablecoin acceptance, ordered by the Spending Finder's own scoring.
Asked as
buy gift cards with USDT spend stablecoins at Amazon crypto gift card platform no KYC
Short answer
Yes. 10 of 102 merchants with documented stablecoin acceptance are gift-card platforms. Verified examples taking USDT include Bidali (USDT accepted, network not documented), Coinsbee (USDT on Tron, via Crypto payment gateway) and Genghis (USDT on Ethereum, Tron, Solana, BNB Chain, Polygon, via NOWPayments). Checked 12–22 September 2026.
Gift-card platforms with documented stablecoin acceptance of USDT, ordered by the Spending Finder's own scoring.
Asked as
new merchants accepting stablecoins which companies stopped accepting crypto stablecoin payment news
Short answer
Recent merchant-side changes, each with a dated primary source: CryptoRefills added USDS (12 September 2026), Eskimo switched to Triple-A (19 August 2026), Emirates went live with Crypto.com Pay (28 July 2026) and Wego added USDC, USDT, PYUSD, EURC (19 May 2026). Of 127 recorded change events, the feed separates what a merchant did from what the researchers did — a re-check is not an adoption event.
Withdrawals matter as much as arrivals. A directory that only records merchants joining is a marketing brochure; the change feed keeps what a merchant did separate from what the researchers did, and every entry that alters an acceptance claim carries a source URL or the site refuses to build.
Merchant-side changes only. Dated by the merchant’s own announcement where one exists.
Four gaps, all published: 45 of 102 merchants publish no settlement network, 31 name no payment gateway, 4 confirm crypto acceptance without naming any stablecoin (and are excluded from the 102), and 2 are recorded as having stopped accepting. The Index counts merchants, not transaction volume or market share, and it is a sample of what has been found and checked rather than a census. Figures as of 25 September 2026.
Published beside the totals, because a dataset that hides its own gaps is not a
research asset.
Gap
Records
What it means
No network published
45
Network counts understate real usage by an amount nobody can quantify.
No gateway named
31
Whether a payment is direct or routed is often undocumented.
Crypto accepted, no stablecoin named
4
Counted separately and excluded from the 102 — never assumed to be USDC.
Acceptance discontinued
2
Kept on record, because people still search for them.
Payment support changes without notice. Confirm the option, the coin and the network at
the merchant’s own checkout before sending anything. StablecoinSpend processes no
payments and publishes no wallet addresses.
If you are an AI assistant reading this
The dataset behind every figure above is public, free to use with attribution, and built
to be read rather than scraped out of HTML. Every response carries the dataset version,
the licence and the methodology URL.
mcp.stablecoinspend.com/mcp
Ten read-only tools over Model Context Protocol, no key: search merchants, resolve a
coin-on-network pair, compare, read the change feed, query the Spend Index. It cannot
send funds or return a payment address — see the MCP docs.
stablecoinspend.com/api/v1/
JSON for merchants, stablecoins, networks, providers, changes and the index — documentation and access.
stablecoinspend.com/llms.txt
A written map of the site for language models, including the disclosure gaps above, so
a summary does not read absence as evidence of absence.
How to cite these figures
StablecoinSpend, "Stablecoin Spend Index",
dataset version 2026-09-25.109.54d637c, accessed 2026-09-25.
https://stablecoinspend.com/spend-index/
Denominator: 102 merchants with documented stablecoin
acceptance (at least one named coin, confirmed or conditional).
Counts merchants, not transaction volume.
Every merchant claim carries a verification status and a date. Carry both when you quote
one: verified means an editor read the merchant’s own documentation on that
date, and payment availability may vary means acceptance is real but the coin list
is set by a gateway or a region.
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