The Institutional Stablecoin Gold Rush

Stablecoin announcements keep pouring in, heralding the new era where asset managers, banks, states, and even presidents are all coexisting with us onchain. 

And honestly, it’s not a surprise.

Alongside $BTC, stablecoins have long been championed as one of crypto’s foundational use cases. While they can feel a bit “dry” among crypto products, they work, and their market keeps expanding.

Fiat-backed stablecoins grew 53% in 2024 alone, topping $200B in circulating supply — (of which Ethereum holds 58%) — and facilitating $5.8T in onchain volume.

That growth has catapulted stablecoins well beyond DeFi speculation into mainstream commerce, with big tech and fintech players like PayPal, Venmo, and Stripe hopping onchain with us through stables. Combine that with generally favorable legislation emerging in Congress — from the GENIUS Act to the STABLE Act of 2025 — and the stage is set.

Everyone wants a piece. This week’s announcements have only increased the fervor:

• Finance giant Fidelity ($5.9T AUM) teased a dollar-pegged coin.
• Trump-backed World Liberty Fi launched their stable, $USD1, on Ethereum and BSC.
• Wyoming declared it will issue its own state stablecoin, already being tested and intended to come in July.
• Custodia Bank and Vantage Bank Texas launched the first-ever U.S. bank-issued stablecoin on permissionless infrastructure. 

All of these moves underscore the same story: stablecoins have quickly proven themselves the superior rails for payments, and institutions see a golden opportunity to capture value by issuing their own.

Today, let's dig into why stablecoins are a major opportunity, why institutions are onboarding, and how you can go long on this trend! 👇

1️⃣ Why Stablecoins Will Win

Before we get into the advantages for institutions, let’s quickly refresh how stablecoins are a simpler, faster payment vehicle — especially compared to the traditional rails that remain slow, expensive, and riddled with fees.

• Payments Are Dominated by Middlemen: Card networks, banks, and other intermediaries rake in nearly $2.4T in revenue annually, charging 1.6–3% per transaction.
• Stablecoins Offer a Cheaper Alternative: One cent stablecoin transactions vs. $12+ for typical remittances proves massive for anyone sending money across borders, and that’s not even factoring in the faster and less complex transfers.
• Stablecoins as an Inflation Hedge: In countries facing high inflation, stablecoins have accrued a core use case as a savings account, thanks to their value tied to relatively stable assets like the US dollar. That stability helps individuals avoid sudden devaluation of local currencies, conduct daily transactions with less volatility, and store wealth in a more reliable way — particularly in places where banks or traditional financial systems prove less accessible.

That convenience, accessibility, and cost savings are why stablecoins are increasingly accepted and used as more and more people — whether merchants, asset managers, or state governments — realize our archaic, endlessly complex payment system is leaving billions on the table.

2️⃣ Why Institutions Want Them

Thus, institutions at the heart of the legacy system have quickly realized they must upgrade to compete with fintechs — because while there's much to gain, there's even more to lose if they're late.

For example, Tether earned $13B last year, and Circle raked in $825M in just half a year, largely by holding customer deposits in low-risk yield-generating assets like money markets or treasuries. By launching their own stablecoins, banks and financial institutions can tap into this profitable model, directly capturing yield from customer deposits. 

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Even better, institutions can offer reduced fees, preferential lending rates, or entirely new financial products, creating seamless experiences within their platforms that incentivize users to transact with their stablecoin and keep coming back to their products, fueling loyalty loops. 

Now, instead of viewing payments purely as a cost center, financial institutions can transform them into profit centers. For example, banks could adopt classic fintech strategies like sharing reserve yields (float) with merchants and partners, like how Visa rewards United and Chase for attracting credit card users. It’s a win-win: institutions build bigger pools of deposits which can be used for yield and increased product offerings, merchants gain revenue by shifting transactions from credit cards to stablecoins, and customers benefit from loyalty-driven incentives, fostering widespread adoption and retention.

On top of adding profits, institutions can drastically cut costs from intermediaries like Visa and Mastercard, which typically eat 1.6–3% per transaction. A natively-issued stablecoin could settle payments at nearly zero cost, significantly boosting margins and allowing them to offer cheaper, more competitive payment solutions to merchants. Plus, stablecoins’ instant settlement reduces fraud risk, letting banks avoid costly fraud-protection services that traditional payment networks typically bundle into fees passed along to users.

Moreover, institutions launching stablecoins could expand into previously underserved markets. Stablecoins excel at instant, low-cost international payments — their standout use case — which positions issuers to capture highly profitable cross-border business and remittance flows. Historically fragmented and expensive, these markets would suddenly become accessible and profitable, offering banks a new path to compete globally, completely changing the global landscape.

Finally, with regulatory clarity quickly approaching — like MiCA in the EU and the emerging STABLE and GENIUS Acts in the U.S. — institutions have a significant regulatory advantage. Banks and regulated asset managers can issue compliant, audited stablecoins, giving them instant credibility among institutional users wary of crypto-native issuers. A bank-issued stablecoin would inherently be perceived as safer, more trusted, and compliant with evolving global standards.

In short, stablecoins offer institutions an entirely new toolkit to compete in a rapidly evolving financial landscape: from capturing billions in reserve yields, cutting costly middlemen, and boosting merchant margins, to powering strategic loyalty incentives and seizing new market opportunities. The question now isn’t why institutions are rushing to launch stablecoins — it’s why wouldn’t they?

3️⃣ How to Go Long on Them

Even if you’re convinced stablecoins will reshape global finance, there's no simple "stablecoin index" to invest in. Rather, we have only indirect methods to go long. Here are a few options to explore if you're bullish on stablecoin adoption:

Stablecoin-Related Prediction Markets

Sites like Polymarket let you place bets on whether institutions like Bank of America or even state governments like Wyoming will issue their own stablecoins soon. Taking part in these or monitoring new ones presents a good, yet not perfect, first option.

Buy Tokens with Stablecoin Exposure

Tokens like $ENA, $SKY or $MKR, $AAVE, and $FXS that are tied to stablecoin issuance can be another good option. For this path, though, it must be remembered that crypto isn’t exactly an efficient or fundamentals-driven market, meaning the growth of one of these tokens’ stables may not be reflected in its price. If you want to go this route, definitely choose a stablecoin-related token on chains with heavy stablecoin volume and supply like Base, Solana, Ethereum, and Tron.

Lock in High Yields via Pendle

While not directly related to their growth, Pendle presents an interesting and relatively safe option for those who just want to snag high rates on stables. As a DeFi platform letting you secure fixed yields from stablecoins or yield-bearing tokens, it’s perfect for locking in stablecoin rates. For example, if you deposit $USDC into Aave to earn 6% APY, it could quickly fall to 3% based on market conditions. With Pendle, though, you could lock this 6% in, though your tokens will be locked, too. Here’s a simple guide if you’re interested.

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Farm Early, Tokenless Stablecoin Projects

Early stablecoin projects without tokens offer unique "farming" opportunities, essentially rewarding you for being early. Projects worth watching include Cap Money, Perena, Resolv, Level, Metastable, and Rings. Given these are early, though, you’re taking on smart contract risk, so remember that. Also, it’s definitely good to look to the protocols on chains with heavy stablecoin volume.

Monitor Upcoming Launches: Circle, the powerhouse behind $USDC, filed to go public and could offer direct stock-market exposure soon. Considering they earned $825M in profit in just six months last year and are more regulatory-aligned compared to Tether, it’s likely a top bet on stablecoins when available. It’s the closest thing to directly investing in stablecoins' rising dominance. Additionally, Plasma, a new USDT-centric Bitcoin sidechain, could be another option to monitor if they launch a token and, without Tether IPO’ing, may be one of the best ways to bet on the top stablecoin’s growth.