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$482 billion. That's how much people paid in stablecoins in the first nine months of 2026, up 45% from last year.

The funny part is that the amount of stablecoins in circulation barely grew. People aren't holding more of them, they're just using them a lot more.

Much of it happens at the checkout. Stablecoin-linked cards handled $3.9 billion in spending, ten times more than a year ago, and most of that growth came from purchases under $50. Visa now runs more than 160 of these card programs.

Next to everything Visa processes, it's still a drop in the ocean. But stablecoins are clearly no longer just where traders park cash between trades.

So what do you actually use stablecoins for?

Another "red" week. The total crypto market cap dropped to $2.47 trillion, falling 5.18% over the past seven days.

The Fear and Greed Index slid from 36 to 27, shifting the sentiment from nervous to outright fearful. BTC dominance rose slightly to 60.30%.

Altcoins took a harder hit, with the Altcoin Season Index dropping from 46 to 38. The week's worst performer was Official Trump, which lost 32%, while Pieverse bucked the trend with a 50% jump. After all, when dominance rises and altcoins "bleed," money typically seeks refuge in Bitcoin.

Last week was once again far from successful for the crypto market, but what do you think: is this the bottom and the start of a recovery, or is there even more fear ahead?

Stablecoins get the headlines, but someone has to move them.

Polygon's payments stack has now processed more than $1 billion in annualized volume for two weeks running. TRON still carries a big share of everyday USDT spending, mostly because transfers there are cheap and fast. And Visa now settles stablecoin payments across nine blockchains instead of betting on just one.

These networks are quietly turning into payment infrastructure, competing on fees and speed rather than hype. For someone paying at a checkout or sending money home, what matters is simple: how much it costs, how fast it lands, and whether the other side can receive it.

The next stage of crypto payments may be decided less by which coin you hold, and more by which network moves it.

What network do you use most for payments?

Halloween Crypto Art Giveaway: winners

Thanks to everyone who joined us and @SwapSpaceCo

We believe in transparency, so we checked every winner against the giveaway rules. Entry #219 shared the image as a reply instead of a quote-repost, so it was replaced by entry #61. All winners were picked at random on random.org.

🏆 $30 in USDT each: @goulgota, @Madujude_, @Eclipse_NT, @web3charlee, @m_amarudinn2, @mavrix006, @Purnabarii, @CadalJuan, @tizzyvegas, @XBTC_Xyz

Winners, DM @SimpleSwap_io your USDT (BEP-20) wallet address to claim. We’ll never DM you first or ask for keys or payments.

A meme token named after a fictional coin from the GTA VI trailer jumped 50%+ in a day. The coin in the game isn’t real. The token is, and so is the money people put into it.

This happens every time something goes viral: a movie, a game, a celebrity post, a news headline. Within hours, tokens with the same name appear on-chain. Some are just jokes, some are traps. Here’s how to tell the difference before you buy.

What a meme token actually is
A token with no product behind it, usually created in minutes on a launchpad. Its price depends almost entirely on attention. That’s why it can jump hundreds of percent and drop just as fast once the hype moves on.

Why the same name shows up ten times
Anyone can create a token with any name and ticker. When a topic trends, copycats launch dozens of lookalikes, and search results don’t tell you which one came first.

5 checks before you buy

1️⃣ Contract address, not ticker. Get the address from the project’s own channel, then compare it character by character. A matching name means nothing.
2️⃣ Can you sell? Some contracts let you buy but block selling (honeypots), or set a sell tax the owner can raise at any time. A token scanner shows this before you spend anything.
3️⃣ Who holds the supply? If a few wallets own most of it, one sale can crash the price.
4️⃣ Is liquidity locked? If the creator can pull the liquidity pool, the price can go to zero in one transaction.
5️⃣ Can the owner mint more? Unlimited minting means your share can be diluted overnight.

One more rule: if you only heard about a token because its price already went vertical, you’re probably late. Late buyers are the exit liquidity for early ones.

Meme tokens aren’t automatically scams. But hype gives no protection, and the five checks above take a couple of minutes.