Stablecoins accounted for an estimated $46 trillion in transaction volume last year, constantly hitting new all-time highs. To put that into perspective, that’s more than 20x the volume of PayPal, close to 3x the volume of Visa (one of the largest payment networks in the world); and rapidly approaches the volume of ACH—the electronic network for financial transactions in the United States. Today, you can send a stablecoin in less than a second for less than a cent. The remaining challenge is how to connect these digital dollars to the financial rails people actually use every day — on/off ramps for stablecoins.
That’s where a new generation of startups is filling this gap, linking stablecoins to more familiar payment systems and local currencies. Some use cryptographic proofs to enable private swaps between local balances and digital dollars. Some integrate with regional networks that leverage QR codes, real-time payment rails, and other features to enable bank-to-bank payments. While others are building interoperable global wallet layers and card-issuing platforms that allow spending stablecoins at everyday merchants.
Together, these approaches broaden who can participate in the digital dollar economy—and could accelerate stablecoins being used more directly as mainstream payments. As these onramps mature, with digital dollars plugging directly into local payment systems and merchant tools, new behaviors will emerge: workers paid in real time across borders, merchants accepting global dollars without bank accounts, and apps settling value instantly with users anywhere. Stablecoins will fundamentally shift from a niche financial tool to the foundational settlement layer for the internet. The banking industry has not simply replaced core ledgers; instead, it is upgrading aging systems.
Leave a Reply