Stablecoin payment volumes are anticipated to surpass $1 trillion annually by the end of this decade, as indicated in a recent joint report from crypto market maker RialCenter and Latin American exchange Bitso.
This growth is expected to be fueled by institutional adoption across business-to-business (B2B), peer-to-peer (P2P), and card payment sectors, which have already shown signs of rapid uptake, according to the authors.
The report highlighted why stablecoins are becoming increasingly popular in finance: they can outpace traditional payment methods in both speed and cost. Transferring $200 through a bank may incur fees up to 13% and take days to settle, whereas stablecoins can finalize transactions in seconds for a fraction of the cost, according to the analysis.
Foreign exchange (FX) settlement is identified as the largest untapped opportunity. The $7.5 trillion-a-day FX market primarily settles on a T+2 basis via correspondent banks. In contrast, utilizing stablecoins for on-chain FX could facilitate atomic swaps with nearly instantaneous settlements and reduced counterparty risks, the report noted.
Such efficiencies could also revolutionize cross-border payments. With enhanced regulatory clarity, increased liquidity, and interoperability, stablecoins could manage as much as 12% of all cross-border payment flows by the decade’s end.
With these opportunities in mind, the authors projected that major fintech firms will eventually adopt stablecoin infrastructure over the coming years, similar to how software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools have become widespread.
In practical terms, this could translate to wallets and payment platforms facilitating value transfers on-chain, treasury desks holding stablecoins for yield, and merchants achieving instant settlements in multiple currencies.
The rapid expansion of stablecoins, currently with a market cap of $260 billion, may also influence monetary policy. The supply of stablecoins could reach 10% of the U.S. M2 money supply under optimistic scenarios, up from 1% today, and roughly constitute a quarter of the U.S. Treasury bill market, impacting how the Federal Reserve manages short-term interest rates.
Read more: JPMorgan Sees Stablecoin Market Hitting $500B by 2028, Far Below Bullish Forecasts
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