Explosive Growth: Stablecoins reached a market cap of $265bn in July 2025 (+60% YTD), with $150bn+ in daily volume, propelled by both crypto traders and a surge in business adoption.
Major Institutional Moves: Circle’s blockbuster IPO, Stripe’s global stablecoin accounts, and giants like Shopify, Amazon, and Walmart jumping in highlight mainstream momentum. Big banks are now rolling out their own stablecoins, while VISA and Mastercard compete with crypto-native rails.
Regulatory Breakthrough: The 2025 U.S. GENIUS Act provides legal clarity, requiring 1:1 dollar reserves, strict auditing, and AML compliance, making stablecoins a U.S. geopolitical asset for exporting the dollar globally.
Real-World Adoption: Beyond trading, stablecoins are transforming cross-border payments, corporate treasury management, payroll, and retail commerce—dramatically reducing costs and improving speed for businesses worldwide.
The Stable-Economy of 2025
As of July 2025, the market capitalisation of stablecoins is over $265bn (+60% YTD) with daily transaction volume averages of over $150bn ($2 trillion+ monthly). Though more than 90% of stablecoin volumes today originate from the Crypto Exchange business, i.e. by traders, market makers, etc, stablecoins are gaining attention from a large number of businesses and Banks interested in using them for cross-border payments and tokenised RWAs.
Source : DefiLlama
For years, stablecoins were viewed as a useful tool for traders, but not much more. In 2025, that narrative has flipped entirely. Stablecoins are now the foundation of a new financial infrastructure, one that's programmable, borderless, and increasingly woven into the operations of the global economy.
Major tailwinds have worked out for a stablecoin explosion in 2025. Some of the notable events are:
Circle’s IPO and Payment Network: In June 2025, Circle IPO’d on the NYSE at $31. Currently, as of July 2025, it is trading at $193, a price that is more than 6x its issue price. Circle has over 25% of the total stablecoin market share, and it has also launched its payment network, competing with VISA and Mastercard. Circle makes a transaction fee on every USDC stablecoin transaction. Circle’s annualised fees and revenue in defillama is over $2.4bn. Such a market size and potential will surely attract much more institutional participation in the coming years.
Stripe launches stablecoin accounts for businesses in over 100 countries: Stripe acquired Bridge for over $1.1bn so that it can allow businesses in over 100 countries to accept stablecoin payments in e-commerce. These payment rails will be compatible with USDC and USDB.
Tether plans to re-enter the U.S. markets: Tether, the largest player with over 61% market share of the stablecoin market, is planning to re-enter the market and threaten Circle’s dominance. Tether’s comeback is also good for chains like Tron and BNB, where 99%+ stable volumes are driven by USDT.
Shopify & Coinbase Enable Crypto Commerce: Shopify integrated native USDC payments, while Coinbase launched x402, embedding stablecoin transfers directly into the internet’s infrastructure.
Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo Build Stablecoins: These banks are no longer watching from the sidelines. They’re developing their own USD stablecoins, paving the way for digital dollars to power mainstream banking.
Amazon and Walmart Enter the Arena: In a surprising move, both retail giants began exploring stablecoins to cut down the $20B+ they spend annually on card fees, challenging Visa and Mastercard.
VISA and Mastercard Respond: Visa launched its Tokenised Asset Platform, while Mastercard partnered with MoonPay to roll out crypto cards across global merchants.
With such participation and investments by large institutional players, global adoption into payments is imminent. The above catalysts are definitely going to drive stablecoin adoption, however, the Genius Act introduced in July 2025 by the U.S. will shape how stablecoins will be issued and regulated in the coming years!
Genius Act: Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act
The turning point came in July 2025 with the signing of the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive U.S. law regulating dollar-pegged stablecoins. The act mandates that stablecoin issuers in the U.S. must
Maintain 1:1 reserves in the form of U.S. Treasury bills or cash
Adhere to strict auditing and disclosure standards and follow AML compliance
Signed by President Donald Trump, the law not only brought long-awaited regulatory clarity but also repositioned stablecoins as geopolitical tools. In short, stablecoins backed by dollars are extremely bullish for the U.S. since it can export its treasuries across the globe through private companies with much better distribution.
“We are going to keep the U.S. the dominant reserve currency in the world, and we will use stablecoins to do that.” – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Stablecoins-Use Cases in the Real World
Stablecoins have immense potential other than facilitating the trading of crypto in Centralised and Decentralised Exchanges.
Cross-Border Payments Companies waste an estimated $120 billion each year on international payment fees and FX costs. Stablecoins eliminate these inefficiencies by enabling 24/7, near-instant transfers. Stripe, PayPal, and WorldPay now support global stablecoin payments.
Corporate Treasury Stablecoins offer CFOs a way to manage liquidity, optimise yield, and streamline settlements. Citi’s 24/7 tokenised cash service and Circle’s treasury APIs are already in use by hundreds of banks and corporations.
Payroll for Remote Workforce Companies like Deel use stablecoins to pay remote workers across 150+ countries, reducing cost and increasing speed. Stablecoins now power 65% of all crypto payroll globally.
Retail & Commerce Retail giants like Amazon and Walmart are exploring stablecoin integrations to save billions on card processing fees. Shopify already supports USDC payments natively through Coinbase and Stripe.
Conclusion
Stablecoins definitely represent an early opportunity that can have massive potential for institutions that embrace it correctly. We recommend you also check out Fireblock’s report on the stablecoins for how enterprises such as Banks are adopting this new age programmable money. India is lagging far behind in terms of regulation clarity, lacking stable issuers and providing institutions the confidence to build businesses in this space. Now is a wake-up call for India to make efforts to understand and regulate the asset class better, or we will just keep losing every major global tailwind opportunity in the digital asset space.
FAQs
What is a stablecoin? A stablecoin is a type of crypto designed to maintain a fixed value by being pegged to another currency, commodity or financial instrument.
What is the GENIUS Act? Is India regulating stablecoins? Genius Act is a U.S. law which regulates stablecoins. The act mandates stablecoin issuers to maintain 1:1 reserves in form of U.S. treasury bills or cash and introduces audits and stricter rules. As of July 2025, India hasn’t passed a law specifically regarding stablecoins.
Are stablecoins safe? When regulated and audited like under the Genius Act, they’re considered low-risk digital assets, provided they are pegged to a stable currency or financial instrument.
How many stablecoins are there? There are many stablecoins in the market, USDT and USDC are the top ones in terms of market cap; together, they control 85% of the total stablecoin market.
Are stablecoins only for crypto trading? No, stablecoins can be used for cross-border transactions, trade and corporate treasury; they are not just limited to trading.
Is stablecoin a good investment? Are stablecoins the future? Stablecoins are usually not looked from an investment perspective as their value remains fixed to an underlying currency, eg, the U.S. dollar. Stablecoins are gaining momentum as their real-world use cases continue to grow; their future looks promising.
Disclaimer:
The information provided in this blog is based on publicly available information and is intended solely for personal information, awareness, and educational purposes and should not be considered as financial advice or a recommendation for investment decisions. We have attempted to provide accurate and factual information, but we cannot guarantee that the data is timely, accurate, or complete. 1 Finance Private Limited or any of its representatives will not be liable or responsible for any losses or damages incurred by the Readers as a result of this blog. Readers of this blog should rely on their own investigations and take their own professional advice.
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