Why are banks interested in stablecoins

Some of the world’s largest banks and financial companies intend to compete with the business of the largest emitters of Tether and Circle stablecoins, writes RBC Crypto. Bank of America, Standard Chartered, PayPal, Revolut, Stripe and others intend to launch their own stable tokens to cover the cross -border payments market. Despite the potential, analysts warned that the market is unlikely to be able to withstand dozens of coins, as users begin to carefully study the quality of such products.

Stebblecoins have become the most used cryptocurrency. What you need to know about them are stablecoins are cryptocurrency tokens, the course of which is tied to any asset, for example, to the dollar, euro or ounce of gold. The company uses securities, national currencies or other crypto assets as ensuring the course of the course to the basic asset of the company. The most famous stable tokens are produced by Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC). Once, stablecoins were used mainly to trade in cryptocurrency, but today they have become a multifunctional tool for everyday use. In the new report, the analytical company Chainalysis noted that the share of transactions with stable coins is ⅔ from the entire volume of operations on crypto. Experts indicated that this type of cryptocurrencies is the most important element in the process of integrating blockchain products into the financial system and the economy. The topic of development of the market for stabilcoins based on the dollar has been promoted by US President Donald Trump since the end of January, when the first decree was signed after the inauguration – “Strengthening the US leadership in digital finances”, where stablecoins were allocated by the key point.

“If they do it legitimate, we will deal with this business,” commented the US administration for the development of the Steabelcoin market General Director Bank of America Brian Minihan.

Why stablecoins

Although stablecoins were usually used to transfer money between various crypto -streaks and exchange, they become increasingly popular in developing markets as an alternative to local banks.

So, for example, Tether is also developing in the raw materials market. In early November, she funded a raw oil transaction between two companies. Although the name was not voiced, one of them is a “supercroll” public oil company, and the second is an oil oil industry from the first echelon. The transaction itself was to ensure loading and transportation of 670 thousand barrels. Middle Eastern oil worth about $ 45 million.

“With the help of USDT, we will make markets that previously rely on slower and expensive payment structures are more efficient and faster,” said Tether General Director Paolo Ardoino, adding that they plan to expand the list of goods and industries in the future.

“Hugs of the establishment.” How the image of Tether Tether has changed in a few years is one of the fastest developing companies on crypto. At the end of July, Tether reported on record profit – in 2024 it earned more than $ 13 billion. The company receives the main income in the form of interest on US Treasury bonds, which are used as reserves that provide USDT emission. Circle, the USDC issuer, has a business model similar to the Tether, being the second in capitalization of stablecoin. They account for about 90% of the capitalization of the total cryptorrhoids or more than $ 201 billion ($ 58 billion and $ 143 billion, respectively). PayPal USD (Pyusd) is one of the few stablecoins from traditional fintech companies that PayPal issued. The project has existed since mid -2023 and has a capitalization of about $ 700 million, which amounted to less than 0.4% of the total market, according to Defillama on March 10.

Growth of competition

Banks become more confident as regulatory acts appear, writes Financial Times.

“We are talking about people selling shovels during the gold fever of stablecoins. They want to get part of the market, ”said the co-founder of the consulting company in the field of Fintech 11: FS Simon Taylor, who compared this with the missed profit syndrome (FOMO) or with fear of missing something important.

So, for example, the British bank Standard Chartered, together with a venture company specializing in investment in blockchain projects, Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Combining Giant HKT, create a joint venture for the production of a stablecoin, secured by Hong Kong. And the American fintech company Stripe completed the largest deal for her by buying a Bridge stabelcoin platform for $ 1.1 billion.

The office of the monetary circulation controller (OCC), which regulates federal banks in the United States, confirmed that now banks will be able to provide castodial services for cryptocurrencies, including with stablecoins.

Earlier, banks were supposed to receive a separate approval of the OCC before working with any digital assets. Now the regulator has removed this requirement, while indicating that risk management should remain at the same level as for traditional banking operations. In addition, the OCC will not appear in warnings about the risks of both the crypto assets themselves and their liquidity. Now the banks themselves will be responsible for assessing the risks, and cryptocurrencies will cease to be considered as a separate high -risk class of assets.

“Steabelcoins and more modern networks are really interesting for payment systems, and this is our business,” said Stripe co -founder John Collison.

Index Ventures partner and Bridge investor Martin Mignio noted that stablecoins are attractive in markets where there is no developed infrastructure or high liquidity, but there is a large currency risk. However, use options in the western markets are “not so obvious,” he added.

Stebblecoins are already the cheapest way to “transfer dollars”, A16Z fund analysts noted. And it is expected that in 2025, not only retail users, but also companies will more and more often accept stablecoins for their payments.

According to the analytical panel of the VISA payment system, which tracks the stabilcoin market, since December 2024, the monthly volume of all transactions with stabiblcoins lasts above $ 700 billion, and at the beginning of 2021 this volume was in the range of $ 200- $ 400 billion. A monthly number of transactions is also growing. Since mid -2019, the indicator has grown from 1 million to 121 million in February 2025.

Despite the growth, Taylor out of 11: FS warned that stablecoins are not cash, but only replace the currency. And their reliability is determined by the issuer’s credit risk, as well as his ability to manage operational risks associated with the use of stablecoin. This may indicate that many offers are unlikely to appear on the market due to the fact that users are very carefully evaluating the risks associated with the issuer, and not by stabilcoin as such.

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