KuCoin says payment volume rose 300% in H1 2026 as users topped 45 million

KuCoin said its off-chain payment volume surged more than 300% in the first half of 2026, with payment orders rising roughly 25 times and its service partner and merchant network expanding 60%, according to its "Beyond the Signal" H1 review published on July 23. The exchange also said it has expanded its regulatory footprint with Digital Currency Exchange registration with Australia’s AUSTRAC, a MiCAR license in Austria through KuCoin EU, and registration with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit. KuCoin said it surpassed 45 million users across more than 200 countries and regions while maintaining average daily trading volumes of $1.99 billion in spot markets and $3.07 billion in perpetual futures during a softer crypto market in the first half of 2026. It said KuCoin Pay, its internal-ledger off-chain settlement system, was central to payments growth by offering zero-fee, instant transactions that avoid blockchain congestion, while KuCard extended the company’s push into real-world digital asset use. Trading activity also became more diversified as Bitcoin and Ethereum’s combined share of KuCoin’s top 18 spot pairs fell from 74.3% to 45.2% by the end of June, and daily active users of its AI service layer KIA increased 300%. KuCoin said it has published Proof of Reserves reports for 44 consecutive months, completed 14 independent audits by Hacken, and obtained SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 27701, and CCSS certifications, underscoring its argument that compliance, transparency and security are becoming as important as trading volume in the next phase of competition among crypto exchanges.