Competition for StableCOin -Dominans is entering a third phase, and companies like Tether, issuing of the largest token and Circle, No. 2, create their positions as the industry is facing increased regulation in the form of the European Union’s markets in Crypto Assets (Mica) -regime and US legislation that works its way through the congress. Specialist Fireblocks.

This latest phase will include banks, large and small as well as established payment companies that weigh the best way to integrate tokens into their existing businesses, according to Ran Goldi, SVP for Payments on Fireblocks.

StableCeCoins, blockchain-based tokens, which mostly mimic US dollars, has become Big Business. Tether’s USDT is the clear leader with a market capital close to $ 145 billion. Circle’s USDC has over $ 60 billion in circulation and the company is considering a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The StableCOin market could grow to $ 2 trillion by the end of 2028, Standard Chartered said in a Tuesday note.

“We will see banks issuing stableecoins as they are under Mica,” Goldi said in an interview. “You see financial institutions that are fintechs coming in, such as Robinhood, Ripple and Revolut. By the end of this year you will see maybe 50 more stablecoins.”

The industry has already passed through two stages, Goldi said. The first happened when the USDC went against the US regulated trading company Paxos, which had collaborated with Crypto Exchange to issue BUSD. For regulatory reasons, Paxos had to drop Busd, and Circle therefore won the round, Goldi said, adding that Paxos’ new USDG consortium is growing in stature and is likely to play a big role in the future.

The second phase was between circle and bottom.

“USDC tried to be bigger than USDT, but then the USDC tumbled a bit with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, etc. It was harder for people to accept that product, especially people outside the United States in the meantime, I think circle has really grown tremendously.”

However, it is worth noting that USDC is licensed under MICA, giving it access to 27 EU nations with a total population of about 450 million people. Usdt is not.

Growth in international payments

Stableecoins grew as a significant way to move money in between volatile cryptocurrencies, which met a certain need considering the industry’s lack of Fiat on and from ramps. Dollar-Pegged Coins of different kinds of flowering further with the explosion of decentralized financing (defi).

Looking further back, the early days of crypto show a development of payment service providers (PSPs) starting with those who wanted to use cryptocurrencies to run their bills. This was followed by another wave of PSPs for business-to-business such as Bridge, recently acquired by Stripe and Zero Hash, Alfred Pay, Conduit and others.

“Some of these PSPs are companies that you may not have heard much about, but they are actually moving billions in stablecoins that service companies to pay to other companies most of the time,” Goldi said. He pointed out that less than 20% of Fireblocks’ total transaction volume was stablecoins in 2020, which rose to approx. 54% last year.

In a typical use case, consider an importer in Brazil who wants to bring in a container and pay someone in Turkey or in Singapore. It takes the Brazilian Reals, converts them to a stableecoin and either sends the funds directly to the exporter or changes them to the destination currency and pays with it, Goldi said.

Some banks have already caught the cross -border payments using the case, like Braza Bank in Brazil, BTG Bank and DBS in Singapore Catering to business customers with accounts that support stablecoins. Others still weigh the best use of use for them.

“We have been contacted by dozens of banks,” Goldi said. “They ask if they should be turned on/off ramps or keep reserves, or maybe they are considering issuing a stablecoin. There are several things banks can do to make money out of stablecoins, from credit to on/off ramps to eg.”

Based on these conversations, Goldi said he believes that most of the banks write strategic plans that are likely to be submitted at the end of this quarter.

“It will be interesting to see if banks build something on their own or use BNY MELLON, for example, who earn banks, or a supplier like Fireblocks. I think the big level-1 banks like JPMorgan, Citi and Morgan Stanley will build their own tech, while the Banks-2 banks would like to use some Technical Supplier,” Goldi said. “Of course they are banks and they are moving slowly, so I think they would be looking to approve these plans by the end of this year and maybe do something in 2026.