Stablecoins are evolving from a niche crypto trading tool to a potential layer of global financial infrastructure, according to Australian investment bank Macquarie.
While most US dollar-denominated stablecoin activity, mainly in Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, still comes from crypto trading, which accounts for around 90% of volume, the bank said adoption is expanding across payments, remittances, treasury operations and tokenized assets, increasingly connecting traditional finance with decentralized finance.
“Stablecoin adoption is making progress in cross-border remittances, but adoption as a form of payment still has room to grow, presenting an attractive total addressable market (TAM) opportunity,” analysts led by Paul Golding said in Monday’s note.
Regulatory progress is helping to drive the shift. The analysts pointed to developments such as the US GENIUS Act, Europe’s MiCA framework and new Asia-Pacific regulations as factors pushing stablecoins from speculative use towards institutional settlement tools.
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Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a fixed value, typically pegged to the US dollar, and are widely used across digital asset markets for trading, payments and transfers.
Tether’s USDT is the largest stablecoin by market cap and trading volume, serving as a key source of liquidity across crypto exchanges, while Circle’s USDC is the second largest and is widely used in institutional and decentralized finance applications. Collectively, tokens underpin much of the crypto market’s activity and are increasingly being explored for payments, remittances and settlement.
Stablecoin growth has been rapid. Macquarie estimates the combined market capitalization of major coins to be around $312 billion by March 2026, up around 50% year over year and representing around 7%-8% of the total crypto market.
Transaction activity is increasing even faster. Adjusted stablecoin transfer volume reached about $11 trillion by 2025, the bank said, suggesting that onchain dollars are becoming a meaningful economic tool both within cryptomarkets and in some real-world payment corridors.
Payment networks and fintech companies are starting to integrate the technology. The report noted that Visa ( V ) and Mastercard ( MA ) now support USDC settlement, allowing card liabilities to be settled on-chain.
Banks are experimenting with similar systems. Macquarie pointed to initiatives including JPMorgan’s JPMD tokenized deposit product, Citi’s Token Services and tokenized deposit pilots at HSBC as evidence that blockchain-based settlement is gaining traction among large financial institutions.
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