- 1Visa data shows $3.7T in stablecoin transactions over the last 30 days.
- 2Citigroup, Bank of America and dozens of others are reportedly weighing stablecoin strategies.
- 3Circle applied for a national bank charter.
Stablecoins are fast becoming a plumbing layer for payments, and lenders may want to track how they develop.
Infrastructure, not speculation
PayPal's SVP of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, told CNBC that most users are unaware of or uninterested in stablecoins and should not need to care. In his view they should just be a way to move value and, in many cases, an infrastructure layer.
Stablecoins are blockchain-based units typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. Visa's data shows $3.7 trillion in stablecoins transacted in the last 30 days alone. Because there is no speculative upside to holding them, their appeal is mainly speed and cost.
What it could mean for lenders
Where ACH becomes too costly or impractical, converting dollars to stablecoins and back to dollars could serve as a way to sweep funds from a bank account to a third party. Borrowers might never know blockchain rails were involved. Lenders would not have to handle crypto themselves, and could leave the conversions to a payment service.
Mainstream momentum
This is no longer the territory of upstart fintechs. According to American Banker, progress on the GENIUS Act has pushed banks to form stablecoin strategies, with Citigroup, Bank of America and dozens of others considering their own stablecoin, a consortium, or both. Stablecoin issuer Circle has also applied for a national bank charter.
Analyst Matthew Sigel noted on June 30, 2025 that 34% of Ethereum transactions now involve stablecoins, with network activity near all-time highs.
Early crypto visions imagined commerce settled in bitcoin. Using the same rails to move dollars may prove the nearer-term and more broadly accepted use.
Source reporting: deBanked.
