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At last week's Bitcoin Alpha event in Santa Monica, attendees met the star of the show — a towering shark dubbed "Bitcoinius Maximus, the Apex Predator of Money." But every apex predator has a rival species. In crypto, that's the fast-evolving class of stablecoins — call them Stablecoinius Rex.
Sure Ethereum (Crypto: ETH) is the No. 2 crypto in terms of market cap after Bitcoin (Crypto: BTC), but the major stablecoins, led by Tether (USDT) have a combined market cap nearly the size of Ethereum's at around $314 billion, hitting a record in September.
"Alongside Bitcoin's role as a store-of-value asset, stablecoins have become one of crypto's most widely used applications: digital tokens on public blockchains that target parity with fiat currencies," said Iliya Kalchev, an analyst at Nexo Dispatch. Nexo Dispatch is Nexo's weekly publication specializing in the cryptocurrency market and digital asset wealth management.
Stablecoins underpin crypto trading, settling over $46 trillion in transactions during 2025 — a volume that now rivals Visa and PayPal, venture-capital firm a16z crypto noted in its State of Crypto 2025 report released Oct. 22. The report calls stablecoins "the backbone of the on-chain economy."
Kalchev said the comparison to Visa and PayPal highlights how quickly blockchain payments have scaled.
"In developed markets, they're emerging as programmable, always-on payment rails that outperform legacy systems in speed and efficiency. In emerging markets and high-inflation economies, stablecoins serve as a digital proxy for stable fiat currencies," he said. "Stablecoins are offering those households and businesses a reliable store of value, dollar exposure, and frictionless access to global liquidity. This dual function as a store of stability and medium of exchange gives stablecoins a place next to Bitcoin in shaping the future of digital money."
Recent legislation helped this corner of the crypto market.
Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong said last week that the House's crypto market bill – the CLARITY Act – is in the Senate and has "around 90% (of Senators) on the same page," with hopes to "get legislation out of Committee by Thanksgiving." He said the bill aims to mirror the success of July's GENIUS Act, the new U.S. stablecoin law that has since boosted adoption of tokenized dollars on Wall Street.
"The GENIUS Act creates a straight fiat-to-crypto pipeline where before there were significant challenges for the crypto industry in accessing banking services," said Joel Valenzuela, a Dash DAO core member.
Every retail crypto trader uses stablecoins. When investors sell positions on an exchange, proceeds typically land in Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) or USD Coin (CRYPTO: USDC) — effectively on-chain cash. Each stablecoin is designed to hold a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar, backed by equivalent assets such as cash or short-term Treasuries.
Analysts attribute stablecoin growth to surging crypto-trading activity, rising institutional participation, and new DeFi lending uses — all accelerated by this year's regulatory clarity. Yet globally, fragmentation persists, said Lingling Jiang, a partner at DWF Labs.
"This is a defining moment,” Jiang said. Those who design with cross-border consistency in mind will be best positioned to grow. Those who wait for perfect clarity in each jurisdiction may find themselves boxed out."
Traditional finance sees the threat, and the opportunity.
A new Citibank report projects the stablecoin market could swell to $1.9 trillion by 2030. They're investing in the digital payments company BVNK out of the U.K. to stake their claim in this space.
“Stablecoins are gaining traction in on-chain settlement and asset payments,” said Arvind Purushotham, head of Citi Ventures. Citi is following the lead of other Wall Street banks since the GENIUS Act became law.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) said this month it would be launching a new reserve fund for stablecoin issuers. They said on Oct. 16 they will now add stablecoins to their "BlackRock Select Treasury" fund. BlackRock already manages around $66 billion of USDC's reserves for Circle (USDXX).
Andrei Grachev, Founding Partner at Dubai-based Falcon Finance, said that integrating yield into stablecoins will only be viable if done inside regulatory boundaries. And right now, those boundaries are not established.
Under the GENIUS Act, yield can be offered through clearly defined, disclosure-based structures that avoid hidden risks. Grachev warns investors against falling for new stablecoins that offer DeFi-style high yields that lack oversight.
"Compliant yield-bearing stablecoins are the next evolution. They'll bridge liquidity with policy-aligned incentives for capital preservation and modest income," he said.
Stablecoins are now a global macroeconomic force, a16z crypto staffers led by fund partner Daren Matsuoka wrote last week. More than 1% of all U.S. dollars now exist as tokenized stablecoins on public blockchains, and stablecoins are now the No. 17 holder of U.S. Treasuries, up from No. 20 last year. Stablecoin like Tether hold over $150 billion in U.S. Treasuries — more than many sovereign nations hold in U.S. Treasury bonds.
Even as central banks pivot to gold — pushing prices above $4,000 an ounce — nearly all major stablecoins remain dollar-denominated, reinforcing long-term demand for the greenback. The a16z report projects stablecoins could hit $3 trillion by 2030, two times more that what Citibank is forecasting.
In September, Tether announced plans to launch a new U.S.-focused stablecoin called USAT at some point in December. Paolo Ardoino, Tether's CEO, said their newest stablecoin is designed to comply with the GENIUS Act. It will be issued by "Tether America," a joint venture with Anchorage Digital (a U.S.-regulated crypto bank).
The company also invested $775 million in Rumble (NASDAQ:RUM) to help drive user adoption. Tether's flagship USDT has surged to $182 billion in circulation, making it the world's dominant stablecoin.
Despite the bullish outlook, Valenzuela tempers the hype.
"We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "The Senate could attach the Responsible Financial Innovation Act to the House's CLARITY bill which would tighten definitions of commodities and securities. Stablecoins for payments may be safe, but yield-bearing versions are still in question."
For Jiang of DWF Labs in Hong Kong, the broader race for stablecoins fintech future is just getting started.
"The long-term success of digital finance depends on regulators aligning rules without stifling innovation," she said. "That work is just beginning."
The writer is an investor in Ethereum and in Bitcoin via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
Images Credit: Author
Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
