Author | Cathy, Plain Language Blockchain (ID: hellobtc)
In January 2026, the total market capitalization of the global stablecoin market surpassed USD 317 billion, setting a new historical high.
However, what truly deserves attention is not the figure itself, but the underlying trend behind it:$Circle (CRCL.US)$USDC surged 73% in 2025, outpacing USDT’s growth rate of 36% for the second consecutive year.$Tether (USDT.CC)$In December 2025, Circle announced the launch of USDC settlement services in the United States.$Visa (V.US)$Circle announced the launch of USDC settlement services in the United States.
When the world's largest payment network begins settling with stablecoins, when Blackrock, managing $10 trillion in assets, issues an on-chain money market fund, and when JPMorgan settles $3 billion daily via blockchain—what exactly are these traditional financial giants seeing?
Why Are Traditional Financial Giants Going All In On-Chain?
In March 2024, Blackrock launched BUIDL—a tokenized money market fund. $Blackrock (BLK.US)$ This is not Blackrock's first foray into blockchain, but it is its most aggressive move yet. BUIDL is directly issued on the public chain, holding U.S. Treasuries and cash, maintaining a net asset value of $1, and distributing monthly returns to holders.
This is not Blackrock's first foray into blockchain, but it is its most aggressive move yet. BUIDL is directly issued on the public chain, holding U.S. Treasuries and cash, maintaining a net asset value of $1, and distributing monthly returns to holders.
BUIDL surpassed the USD 1 billion mark in March 2025, becoming the first on-chain fund to reach this scale. By the end of 2025, its size had exceeded USD 2 billion, making it the largest tokenized fund currently available.
What did Blackrock see?
The answer is simple: efficiency and cost.
Traditional money market funds require T+1 or T+2 settlement for subscriptions and redemptions, while cross-border transfers must go through the SWIFT system, incurring multiple layers of fees. In contrast, on-chain funds enable transfers within seconds, with transaction fees under USD 1, operating 24/7.
More importantly, BUIDL has opened up an entirely new distribution channel. In the past, it was difficult for retail investors to directly purchase money market funds (with typical minimum thresholds above USD 1 million). However, blockchain allows anyone to buy them.
This is why protocols like Ondo Finance have been able to rise.
What Ondo does is straightforward: repackaging Blackrock's BUIDL and other institutional-grade RWA products into smaller shares and selling them to DeFi users. Its OUSG product invests directly in BUIDL, allowing ordinary users to enjoy annual returns of 4-5% from U.S. Treasuries.
The tokenized U.S. Treasury bond sector experienced explosive growth in 2025, surging from less than USD 200 million at the beginning of 2024 to over USD 7.3 billion by the end of 2025 (data from RWA.xyz). Blackrock's entry, to some extent, provided regulatory endorsement for the entire RWA sector.
Why choose USDC instead of USDT?
Tether (USDT) remains the king of stablecoins, with a market value of USD 186.7 billion, capturing 60% of the market share.
However, the smart money is voting with their feet.
In 2025, the market value of USDC increased from approximately USD 44 billion to over USD 75 billion, a growth rate of 73%. In contrast, USDT grew by only 36%, increasing from about USD 137 billion to USD 186.7 billion. This marks the second consecutive year that USDC's growth rate has surpassed that of USDT.
Why?
The answer is: regulation.
On July 18, 2025, the President of the United States signed the GENIUS Act, marking the first federal legislation in the United States specifically targeting stablecoins. The act mandates that 'payment stablecoins' must be fully backed by reserves (in cash or short-term government bonds) and prohibits interest payments to users.
Circle’s USDC fully complies with this standard. Moreover, Circle became the first global issuer to achieve full compliance under the EU’s MiCA framework.
What does this mean?
This signifies that USDC has obtained a pass to enter the mainstream financial system.
When Stripe opted for stablecoin payments, it chose USDC. When Visa introduced stablecoin settlement, it selected USDC. When$Shopify (SHOP.US)$enabled merchants to accept stablecoins, it supported USDC.
For banks, payment companies, and compliant exchanges, USDC is considered a 'whitelisted asset,' whereas USDT faces delisting pressures in Europe due to issues regarding the transparency of its reserve assets.
But Tether is not worried.
This is because its main market is not in the United States or Europe, but in high-inflation regions—Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
In high-inflation countries such as Argentina, Turkey, and Nigeria, USDT has effectively replaced part of the local currency's function, becoming a de facto "shadow dollar." The first thing people do after receiving their salary is convert it into USDT to preserve its value.
The stablecoin market is diverging into two distinct paths:
USDC: A compliance-focused route serving institutional and payment scenarios in Europe and the United States, with backing from top-tier investors including Blackrock, Fidelity, and General Catalyst.
USDT: An offshore-focused route serving emerging markets and trading scenarios, holding an irreplaceable position in the Global South.
Capitulation or evolution for payment giants?
In December 2025, Visa announced the launch of USDC settlement services in the United States.
This marks a historic moment.
In the past, Visa's business model involved charging transaction fees of 1.5%-3% per transaction. Now, it allows partners to settle using USDC, significantly reducing transaction fees.
This may appear to be self-revolution. In reality, however, Visa is adopting a defensive offense strategy.
What threat does Visa perceive?
Stablecoins are eroding its core business — cross-border payments.
Traditional cross-border payments require processing through multiple correspondent banks, with fees deducted at each stage, and settlement taking 3 to 5 days. In contrast, stablecoin payments settle within seconds, with transaction fees of less than one US dollar.
According to an a16z report, the total transaction volume of stablecoins will reach $46 trillion by 2025 (already surpassing Visa), with adjusted payment/settlement volumes reaching approximately $9 trillion, growing at an extremely rapid pace while capturing shares in cross-border and emerging markets.
$Visa (V.US)$ The strategy is: if you can't beat them, join them.
By launching USDC settlement services, Visa is transforming itself from a 'payment channel' into a 'payment facilitator.' Instead of charging high transaction fees, it now earns revenue by providing value-added services such as compliance, risk management, and anti-money laundering solutions.
Meanwhile, other payment giants are also taking action:
Stripe: In October 2024, it acquired Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure platform, for $1.1 billion, marking one of the largest acquisitions in crypto history.
$PayPal (PYPL.US)$Its stablecoin PYUSD surged 600% in 2025, rising from $600 million to $3.6 billion.
$The Western Union (WU.US)$In the first half of 2026, USDPT stablecoin will be launched on Solana.
Ten European banks: jointly established Qivalis and plan to launch a euro stablecoin in the second half of 2026.
Notably, both Western Union and Visa's initial partners chose$Solana (SOL.CC)$as the settlement chain, highlighting the advantages of high-performance public blockchains in payment scenarios—high throughput and low transaction fees.
Banks are not sitting idly by.
Facing pressure from non-banking institutions (Circle, Tether) and payment giants (Stripe, Visa), banks are not remaining passive.
$JPMorgan (JPM.US)$ is the most aggressive one.
In early 2026, JPMorgan expanded its JPM Coin, under the blockchain division Kinexys, to the Canton Network to achieve multi-chain interoperability. This is not a publicly traded stablecoin but rather a 'deposit token.'
Kinexys's daily average trading volume has exceeded 30 billion US dollars. It primarily serves multinational corporations such as Siemens and BMW, enabling the transfer of funds between global subsidiaries within seconds.
JPMorgan’s logic is clear:
We don’t need to issue tokens on public blockchains to compete with you. We only need to lock our clients into a private blockchain, using blockchain technology to enhance efficiency while retaining control.
In Europe, Societe Generale has gone further. Its subsidiary SG-FORGE issued the euro stablecoin EURCV and the US dollar stablecoin USDCV, which are the first stablecoins issued by a regulated bank on a public blockchain ($Ethereum (ETH.CC)$) and listed on compliant exchanges such as Bitstamp.
However, it should be noted that bank-backed stablecoins like JPM Coin and USDCV mainly serve corporate clients and are not targeted at retail markets. They represent the path of traditional financial institutions embracing blockchain technology while maintaining centralized control.
The trend of stablecoins is emerging.
In summary, four clear trends in the stablecoin market are evident in 2026:
Acceleration of RWA tokenization.
Blackrock, Ondo, and Franklin Templeton have all issued tokenized US Treasuries and money market funds. This sector experienced explosive growth in 2025, surging from less than 200 million US dollars at the beginning of 2024 to over 7.3 billion US dollars, marking an increase of more than 35 times. Traditional financial institutions are leveraging tokenization to bring US Treasury yields into the on-chain world.
The path to compliance is becoming increasingly clear.
USDC growth rate reached 73%, surpassing USDT for two consecutive years. Following the passage of the GENIUS Act, compliance has become the only option for mainstream institutions. Investors backing Circle include top-tier institutions like Blackrock and Fidelity. If its planned IPO in 2026 comes to fruition, it will represent a significant milestone for the stablecoin industry.
Reconstruction of payment infrastructure.
Stripe acquired Bridge for $1.1 billion, Visa launched USDC settlement, and PayPal’s PYUSD surged by 600%. Traditional payment giants are integrating stablecoins into their infrastructure instead of adopting a defensive stance. High-performance blockchains like Solana, with their advantages in payment scenarios, are emerging as the preferred choice for enterprise-level applications.
Market segmentation intensifies.
Stablecoins are no longer synonymous with “stability.” They are diverging into two distinct tracks:
Payment-oriented stablecoins (USDC, PYUSD): Non-interest-bearing but compliant-backed, serving enterprises and merchants.
Yield-generating stablecoins (Ondo USDY, Ethena USDe): Offering annualized returns of 4-5%, attracting DeFi capital.
Summary.
When Blackrock begins issuing on-chain funds, when Visa starts using USDC for settlements, and when JPMorgan settles $3 billion daily – stablecoins are no longer just part of the 'crypto' narrative; they mark the beginning of a broader restructuring of the entire financial system.
This is not hype, nor is it a mere concept. By 2025, the total trading volume of stablecoins is expected to reach $46 trillion, with an adjusted payment/settlement volume of $9 trillion. These figures represent real and substantial commercial flows.
The entry of traditional financial giants signifies that stablecoins are evolving from 'toys of the crypto circle' into 'infrastructure for global finance.' For those monitoring this market, the priority is not predicting the next trend but understanding the underlying logic driving this transformation.
Smart money is already on the move.
Editor/Rocky
