Stablecoins just eclipsed Bitcoin in the one metric that matters, exposing a $23 trillion global fault line

Stablecoins have evolved beyond a crypto parking spot into a $300 billion parallel dollar infrastructure, with annual trading volumes exceeding $23 trillion in 2024. Crucially, cross-border stablecoin transfers, a proxy for real-economy usage, have recently surpassed those of Bitcoin and Ethereum for the first time, according to the IMF. This digital dollarization serves as an economic survival tool for households in emerging markets like Nigeria and Argentina, preserving purchasing power outside fragile domestic banking systems, potentially leading to $1 trillion in deposit flight from emerging market banks to dollar-denominated stablecoins backed by US Treasuries. The expansion of stablecoins, dominated by Tether (USDT), also makes them meaningful marginal buyers in the US Treasury market. While the US is solidifying its position as the most issuer-friendly jurisdiction via the proposed GENIUS Act, this institutionalization of digital dollars accelerates adoption abroad, intensifying pressure on emerging market stability and central bank authority, creating a systemic vulnerability that global regulators are struggling to keep pace with.

(Source：CryptoSlate)