April 2026 Crypto Payment Statistics: Monero Widens Its Lead
This report is part of our monthly crypto merchant data series. See all NanoGPT crypto payment statistics.
April was a very strong month for Monero, while Bitcoin plus Lightning took second place and Nano remained meaningful in third. It was also the month we were at Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas, so it was especially interesting to see how on-chain Bitcoin and Lightning performed.
Monero Pulls Far Ahead
Monero led April by a wide margin at 41.74% of crypto deposit volume. That is a major jump from March's 29.23%, and it made XMR larger than the next two payment methods combined.
Bitcoin And Lightning Take Second
On-chain Bitcoin represented 13.04% of crypto deposit volume, down from 20.94% in March. Lightning added another 5.25%, slightly below March's 6.26%, putting BTC + LN at 18.29% combined.
Combined, Bitcoin rails were the #2 payment method in April, behind only Monero.
Nano Holds Third, But Lower
Nano came in third at 15.16%, down from 20.51% in March. It still held a strong position, but April was clearly more XMR-heavy than the previous month.
Stablecoins And Mid-Tier Coins
Stablecoins stayed relevant but did not dominate. USDT came in at 4.28%, slightly below March's 4.68%, while USDC rose from 1.88% to 2.36%. Combined stablecoin share was basically flat at 6.64% versus 6.56% in March.
Several mid-tier coins clustered tightly:
- Litecoin rose from 3.53% to 4.24%, nearly matching USDT.
- TON increased from 2.23% to 2.95%.
- SOL was essentially flat, moving from 2.53% to 2.55%.
- ETH cooled from 2.82% to 2.34%.
- BCH moved up from 1.58% to 1.88%.
- ZEC fell from 1.79% to 0.94%, while DASH slipped from 1.00% to 0.92%.
ZANO More Than Doubles
ZANO reached 1.59% of crypto deposit volume in April.
That is more than double March's 0.73%, so definitely strong growth for ZANO.
The Full Data
Here is the complete breakdown for all coins in April:
- XMR: 41.74%
- XNO: 15.16%
- BTC: 13.04%
- BTC-LN: 5.25%
- USDT: 4.28%
- LTC: 4.24%
- TON: 2.95%
- SOL: 2.55%
- USDC: 2.36%
- ETH: 2.34%
- BCH: 1.88%
- ZANO: 1.59%
- ZEC: 0.94%
- DASH: 0.92%
- BASE: 0.26%
- BNB: 0.19%
- DOGE: 0.19%
- ARBITRUM: 0.05%
- TRX: 0.03%
- POLYGON: 0.03%
- LTC-MWEB: 0.01%
Takeaways
- XMR had the month's clearest win, rising to 41.74%.
- BTC + LN was second overall at 18.29% combined, down from 27.21% in March.
- XNO was third at 15.16%.
- USDT + USDC totaled 6.64%, almost unchanged from March.
- ZANO grew from a small March tail coin into a more meaningful April payment method.
That wraps April. The headline is simple: Monero dominated, Bitcoin plus Lightning took second, Nano stayed strong but lower, and ZANO had a month worth calling out.
