Cryptocurrency Research Predicts Stablecoins to Reorganize Digital Wallets and Settlement Processes, According to Animoca
In a significant shift for the global payments industry, regulated stablecoins are reshaping traditional payment wallets and clearing systems. These digital assets, designed to maintain a stable value, offer faster, more transparent, and borderless settlement alternatives, challenging incumbent payment infrastructure and clearing paradigms.
Currently, stablecoins facilitate approximately $30 billion in daily global transactions, representing less than 1% of global money flows. However, experts predict that by 2025, stablecoins could materially shift the payments industry, complementing or partially displacing traditional rails like ACH and card networks.
One of the key advantages of stablecoins is their ability to enable near-instant settlement without dependence on banking hours or geographic borders, offering lower costs and enhanced transparency compared with conventional payment systems. This makes them particularly attractive for use cases such as cross-border remittances, trading, capital market settlement, and treasury cash management.
The growing use of stablecoins is driving changes in the payment ecosystem. Major players like Visa and Mastercard, as well as large merchants such as Walmart and Amazon, are already exploring stablecoin integration, signalling a shift in how high-volume transactions might be processed outside traditional banking.
Regulatory developments are crucial in this evolving landscape. The U.S. has enacted the GENIUS Act, which introduces a federal framework aimed at addressing risks around transparency, counterparty exposure, and consumer protection while encouraging innovation. The EU’s MiCA framework parallels this but with differing stringency in some areas.
Banks and fintechs will need to upgrade their compliance, risk management, and technology infrastructure to engage with stablecoins, which may demand regulatory-like supervision akin to banking standards. This presents both competitive threats and new roles for banks as fiduciaries in a mixed legacy and blockchain payment environment.
Potential risks include stablecoin peg fragility, possible capital flight, threats to monetary sovereignty in emerging markets, and integration challenges with legacy systems. Despite these risks, industry experts view stablecoins as a genuine technological upgrade in payments, moving beyond crypto fad status towards real adoption with business utility.
Networks like Visa and processors like Stripe could still benefit by handling a broader range of currencies, including stablecoins, potentially strengthening their role in the global payment system. In countries where credit cards dominate, stablecoin wallets could change how people pay, with consumers potentially shifting towards wallets offering lower costs and faster transactions.
Centralized crypto exchanges may act more like traditional remittance services in stablecoin-based clearing systems. This setup could improve domestic banking efficiency and significantly reduce cross-border transfer delays. Retailers, e-commerce firms, and social media platforms can promote these wallets independently, leading to widespread adoption of digital payments through a decentralized ecosystem.
With regulatory support growing, the impact of stablecoins on wallets and clearing systems may soon become visible in daily life. The report by Animoca Brands Research identifies two core opportunities in this space: the creation of open-source digital wallets for stablecoin payments and the development of open clearing houses for settlements, especially across borders.
Stablecoin-based systems from banks could offer similar benefits to money transfer companies without relying on private infrastructure. The open clearing systems replace central intermediaries with on-chain transfers and fiat on/off ramps. Centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs) may play a limited role in stablecoin-based clearing systems, as many operate without tapping into blockchain's native features.
Stablecoin-enabled wallets are simpler to build than traditional Web2 wallets, as developers can rely on existing blockchain infrastructure and token standards. Stablecoins could modernize money transfers by powering open clearing systems, potentially revolutionizing the way we handle payments in the future.
- Regulated stablecoins are reshaping traditional payment wallets and clearing systems, offering faster, more transparent, and borderless settlement alternatives, challenging incumbent payment infrastructure and clearing paradigms.
- The growing use of stablecoins is driving changes in the payment ecosystem, with major players like Visa and Mastercard exploring stablecoin integration, signalling a shift in how high-volume transactions might be processed outside traditional banking.
- The U.S. has enacted the GENIUS Act, which introduces a federal framework aimed at addressing risks around transparency, counterparty exposure, and consumer protection while encouraging innovation in the stablecoin sector.
- Networks like Visa could still benefit by handling a broader range of currencies, including stablecoins, potentially strengthening their role in the global payment system.
- Stablecoin-based systems from banks could offer similar benefits to money transfer companies without relying on private infrastructure, and open clearing systems replace central intermediaries with on-chain transfers and fiat on/off ramps.
- Stablecoin-enabled wallets are simpler to build than traditional Web2 wallets, as developers can rely on existing blockchain infrastructure and token standards, potentially revolutionizing the way we handle payments in the future.
