Canadians trading crypto with their own dollars are increasingly buying something designed not to move. By June 2026, stablecoins accounted for 44% of Canadian dollar crypto order book volume, according to Chainalysis.
A year earlier, that share was 30%. The coin doing most of the work is USDC, a token pegged to the US dollar.
The findings come from Chainalysis’s 2026 North America Crypto Adoption report, released in mid-October 2026.
Stablecoins pull ahead of the classics
The headline figure is the 14-percentage-point jump in stablecoin share over twelve months. That growth pushed stablecoins past traditional store-of-value assets, which made up only 29% of CAD order book volume.
Within the stablecoin category, USDC dominated. Chainalysis found minimal activity in stablecoins pegged to the Canadian dollar itself.
The broader numbers also stand out. Canada’s crypto economy grew 2.3% year over year, reaching $247.7 billion in the twelve months leading up to June 2026.
That growth came while the wider North American market saw a slight decline.
Remittances are doing the heavy lifting
Chainalysis ties much of this stablecoin activity to strong peer-to-peer usage. The driver is demographic as much as financial.
Foreign-born residents make up 23% of Canada’s population, the highest share in the G7. Many of those residents send money to family abroad, and traditional remittance channels are expensive.
High remittance costs have pushed a growing number of senders toward crypto, according to the report.
Remittance-sized transfers from Canada to countries including India, China, and the Philippines rose 141% year over year. Those flows reached $2.36 billion across 3.56 million transactions in the year to June 2026.
The average transfer size was $663. The Philippines corridor alone accounted for about $61 million, spread over roughly 73,564 transactions.
A policy headache with a maple leaf on it
The report also flags a thornier issue for Canadian regulators. Strong demand for US dollar stablecoins could potentially divert investment away from Canadian government debt.
Major dollar stablecoins are typically backed by reserves, so money flowing into them can end up supporting US assets rather than Canadian ones.
Canada has started to respond. Recent legislation facilitating the issuance of CAD-pegged stablecoins has been enacted, with the aim of strengthening Canada’s competitive position in crypto and keeping capital at home.
CAD-pegged alternatives currently see minimal trading, while USDC has the liquidity, the network effects, and the head start.
What this means
For investors and traders, the clearest signal is that Canadian crypto demand is tilting toward utility. A 44% stablecoin share of CAD order book volume, up from 30%, suggests a growing slice of activity is about payments and transfers rather than price bets.
The remittance numbers deserve the closest watch. A 141% annual jump to $2.36 billion indicates the corridor is growing fast from a meaningful base.
Canada’s 2.3% crypto economy growth, set against a slight North American decline, also hints that demographic demand may make Canadian crypto activity less sensitive to market cycles. Remittances do not stop because prices fall, which gives this segment a different rhythm than trading-driven volume.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.