‘DeFi is dead.’ That’s how Maple Finance CEO and co-founder Sid Powell summarizes what he sees coming for crypto over the next few years. In a couple of years, institutions won’t distinguish between DeFi and TradFi at all, Powell explained to CoinDesk in an interview. Eventually, all capital markets activity will take place on-chain. In Powell’s view, blockchains will play a similar role in the financial services sector.
On-chain finance is simply the next technology layer on which global markets will settle, much like the internet changed how people shop. Powell expects a similar shift in the legacy financial services sector, where crypto becomes the infrastructure for capital markets, with the majority of transactions clearing and settling using public ledgers rather than legacy systems. He also sees more debt capital markets adopting crypto-native structures, including BTC-backed mortgages and other asset-backed securities tied to crypto loans, as well as crypto card issuers whose receivables can be securitized and sold into the capital markets. This is where Powell’s most aggressive prediction comes in about the new shift in the financial system: stablecoins could process $50 trillion in transactions in 2026, driven by small businesses and neobanks seeking lower fees.
Following the GENIUS Act, financial giants are adopting or considering their use en masse. PayPal has launched PYUSD, Société Générale has issued euro- and dollar-pegged stablecoins via its crypto unit, and Fiserv has introduced FIUSD for use across payment networks, while Wall Street giants including Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo have signaled interest in following suit. Visa and Mastercard aren’t issuing coins, but are building stablecoin settlement rails that could accelerate adoption, and intensify competition with tokenized deposits and other bank-led digital money. Powell frames stablecoins as a powerful but still underappreciated tool for merchants and small businesses.
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