Bitcoin's settlement volume reached $6.9 trillion in Q4, matching or surpassing the combined total of Visa and Mastercard, which processed $6.88 trillion. This highlights Bitcoin's growing role as a global settlement network, particularly for large transactions. Despite this, Bitcoin's use remains concentrated in trading, remittances, and investments, with limited merchant adoption compared to Visa's 175 million merchants. Meanwhile, stablecoins offer a viable alternative for global value transfers, averaging $225 billion in daily transactions, though a significant portion is driven by automated trading bots.