Rich by Coin

Since the Genius Act was enacted in July 2025, banks have largely rejected yield-bearing stablecoins, while payment-focused stablecoins have gained broader adoption. USDC and USDT are pursuing divergent paths amid evolving regulatory expectations. Market participants are monitoring key resistance levels in stablecoin valuations as infrastructure continues to develop. Old payment methods are becoming a new hotspot, with agents and stablecoins representing the complex relationship between FinTech and Crypto.

One reason is that they cannot fully bypass banks for fund processing; another reason is that blockchain can do it more cheaply. The entire FinTech sector reached its peak during the pandemic. PayPal, which is now rumored to be for sale, was valued at $340 billion in 2021, and by 2026, the entire FinTech sector will need to prove its superiority in stablecoins and agents. Stripe’s valuation is five times Adyen’s market cap ($35B) and about thirteen times Checkout.com’s valuation ($12B), yet Stripe’s transaction volume is not five times that of Adyen—the leverage comes from market imagination around stablecoins and the agent concept. Fintech companies face far greater anxiety than crypto, since “public chain + stablecoin” forms a self-contained system, and DeFi is a killer application; what we’re seeing today as a new battle in payments is merely Fintech inflating valuations to stoke the fire.

Fintech has only existing advantages; the future belongs to the crypto industry. USDT fades into obscurity as it penetrates the Third World and encircles the West, while USDC gains momentum on-chain; compliance is merely a facade replacing banks. USDC follows the logic of “DeFi + B2B + stablecoin,” while USDT embodies the narrative of “stablecoin + CEX + P2P.” USDC is more widely used in DeFi, serving as a dominant quote asset in mainstream scenarios like DEXs and lending platforms, far surpassing USDT—while, aside from Coinbase, the majority of CEX liquidity is denominated in USDT.

USDC has become the standard stablecoin, and Circle’s stack, including CCTP, serves as the gateway for institutions to enter the blockchain. USDT has demonstrated resilience, with $80 billion worth of USDT on Tron supporting global peer-to-peer transfer demands; dollarization in Argentina and Nigeria is essentially USDTization. According to a joint survey by Artemis and McKinsey, the $35 trillion in global stablecoin transaction volume is not entirely genuine; only about $390 billion (approximately 1%) represents actual stablecoin payments.

B2B payments: $226 billion (primary use case, accounting for 60%, up 733% year-over-year), representing only 0.01% of the approximately $1.6 trillion global B2B payments market. Global payroll and cross-border remittances: $90 billion (<1% of global share). Clearing and settlement: $8 billion (<0.01% of global share). U Card: $4.5 billion. This data feels more authentic in everyday experience—perhaps the trend toward stablecoin adoption is more significant. You’ll see fintech companies actively integrating with banks, while banks simultaneously resist stablecoin yields yet support greater stablecoin usage. Observing Tether’s recent moves, the collaboration with Lutnick and the launch of USAT may be mere distractions; the $200 million investment in Whop is more genuine and can be understood as purchasing access to 18 million users, strategically targeting first-world markets through reverse remittances from the global south. Therefore, you’ll see cross-border remittance companies connecting Latin America ⇄ the U.S., South Asia ⇄ the Middle East, and Africa ⇄ Europe more commonly supporting USDT, while Stripe and Huma default to USDC. The fundamental nature of the crypto space is P2P, while Circle has consciously pursued business development with enterprises and banks; the widespread media coverage of B2B as if it were the future trend misrepresents the true direction of payments. Without ETH-based yield-stablecoins to diversify risk, at the very least, one should consider RWA-based assets to diversify income sources. In short, lacking payment functionality based on on-chain yields means you cannot escape the dominance of dollar-denominated assets, and you will ultimately be tamed by OCC into becoming banking institutions—those willing to trade freedom for security will end up losing both freedom and security. Here is the second risky judgment: Existing B2B enterprise use cases based on USDC and cross-border remittance projects incorporating USDT transfers cannot propel payment stablecoins across the threshold of global adoption; they hold only transitional significance and will not become the dominant players of the next era. The phase mission of using yield as a customer acquisition tool has been halted; under pressure from the banking sector, not only has off-chain activity been impacted, but on-chain activity has also gone quiet following $USDe and $xUSD— it’s time to seriously study real-world adoption of payments. However, note that if you focus solely on payments while ignoring yield characteristics, you’ll miss the most valuable 50% of this wave—USDT. USDC, earning Treasury interest, are effectively recruiting the masses, and the banking sector wins the third wave, continuing to dominate with the cheapest demand assets. Following in the footsteps of Fintech, we hope Crypto will carve out a different future. Four power sources are driving the new battle in payments: Stripe and others are desperately embracing new narratives in pursuit of an IPO; Meta and Google recognize their bargaining power as channel providers; banks seek to retain channel fees and low-cost assets; and Tether is heavily investing in payment companies in a bid to encircle Circle. Two new narratives have been bundled into future visions, with stablecoins regarded as the default payment tool for agents—no one has ever questioned whether agents are truly necessary.