May 2026 Payment Statistics
May shifted the top of the table again. Monero stayed in first place, Bitcoin had a much stronger month, and Nano moved into third.
Monero Stays In First
Monero led May at 33.81%. That kept XMR in first place, though it came down from April's very strong 41.74%.
Bitcoin Moves Up
On-chain Bitcoin came in second at 19.71%. This is quite an increase from April's 13.04%. Lightning added another 7.28%, up from 5.25% in April.
Combined, BTC + LN reached 26.99%, making Bitcoin rails the clear second-largest category behind Monero.
Nano Comes In Third
Nano came in third at 11.78%, down from 15.16% in April.
It still held a strong position, but May was clearly a better month for Bitcoin than for Nano.
ETH And Stablecoins Were Meaningful
Ethereum had one of the stronger moves in May, rising from 2.34% to 5.57%.
Stablecoins also increased as a combined category. USDT reached 4.36% and USDC reached 3.53%, putting USDT + USDC at 7.90% combined.
The Middle Of The Table
Several coins formed the next group:
- Litecoin slipped from 4.24% to 3.51%.
- TON moved from 2.95% to 2.49%.
- SOL came in at 2.22%, slightly below April's 2.55%.
- ZEC recovered from 0.94% to 1.31%.
- BASE rose from 0.26% to 1.25%.
- BCH moved down from 1.88% to 1.06%.
- DASH reached 1.03%, slightly above April's 0.92%.
The Full Data
Here is the complete breakdown for all coins in May:
- XMR: 33.81%
- BTC: 19.71%
- XNO: 11.78%
- BTC-LN: 7.28%
- ETH: 5.57%
- USDT: 4.36%
- USDC: 3.53%
- LTC: 3.51%
- TON: 2.49%
- SOL: 2.22%
- ZEC: 1.31%
- BASE: 1.25%
- BCH: 1.06%
- DASH: 1.03%
- ZANO: 0.47%
- BNB: 0.17%
- TRX: 0.14%
- DOGE: 0.09%
- POLYGON: 0.08%
- LTC-MWEB: 0.06%
- ARBITRUM: 0.05%
- KAS: 0.02%
- XRP: 0.02%
- AVAX: 0.01%
- VERSE: 0.00%
Takeaways
- XMR stayed in first place at 33.81%.
- BTC + LN rose to 26.99% combined, making Bitcoin rails the clear second-largest category.
- XNO came in third at 11.78%.
- USDT + USDC totaled 7.90%, up from 6.64% in April.
- ETH had a strong month, rising to 5.57%.
That wraps May. The main story is that Monero still led, Bitcoin plus Lightning gained a lot of ground, Nano stayed important but lower, and the middle of the table broadened across ETH, stablecoins, Litecoin, TON, Solana, and several smaller chains.
