Eight of the 14 venues we track lost share last quarter

+18%

Market, quarter on quarter

all tracked venues

+11%

Median venue

the typical venue we track

+7%

Largest venue

behind both the market and the median

6 of 14

Outgrew the market

the rest lost share

A size ranking of African stablecoin venues barely moves. A lifetime total only ever climbs, so a venue that stopped growing a year ago still looks enormous. The number is real — it just records what a venue was, not what it is.

So we added a second axis. Momentum asks how much of everything a venue has ever moved landed this quarter. A high reading means the flow is recent and the venue is winning business now; a low one means it is living off a book built long ago.

Who is ceding ground

The market grew 18% by volume last quarter — a figure the largest venues inflate by their own weight. Set it aside and look at the typical venue instead: the median grew about 11%.

The biggest venue in our coverage grew 7%, behind both. Expanding slower than your peers and slower than the market at the same time is the definition of losing share. Chipper Cash went further and shrank 19%.

Neither is failing. Both are ceding ground while a size ranking still calls them leaders.

Who is taking it

The three venues momentum rates Leader — Spenda, Breet and Busha — are all smaller than the incumbent at the top. Spenda grew 34% last quarter and Breet 153%, both well ahead of the market. Two of the three are off-ramps rather than exchanges, which is a tell for where the weight is heading.

Below them sit seven Risers whose flow is almost entirely recent. Noblocks grew 1,294% quarter on quarter. They barely register by size, but momentum sees them a quarter or two before a size ranking would.

The finding

Only 6 of the 14 venues we track outgrew the market. The other eight lost share — four of them while still growing in absolute terms. A size ranking sees eight venues getting bigger; momentum sees eight venues falling behind.

Scale still matters: it is the best read we have on which venues can absorb a large flow today. It just cannot tell you who is winning the market as it stands.

Full report: how we rate venues on momentum →