Original Title: The Future Of Stablecoins
Original Source: Artemis Original Translation: DePINone Labs
Release Date: May 29, 2025
Editor’s Note: At a critical juncture where the crypto market is transitioning from 'concept' to 'real economy,' stablecoins will be a key link connecting on-chain and off-chain financial worlds. The Artemis team's report (The Future of Stablecoins) provides profound insights by systematically outlining the development trajectory, current application status, and future outlook of stablecoins. This report focuses on the transformation of the stablecoin ecosystem: from early issuance to the current emphasis on distribution and actual usage.
· The Use of Stablecoins Outweighs Supply: The report emphasizes that understanding the actual use cases of stablecoins is more important than merely focusing on their total supply. Stablecoins have expanded from a single trading tool to diversified uses such as payments, savings, cross-border remittances, and DeFi collateral.
· Power Shifting from Issuers to Distributors: As the barriers to stablecoin issuance lower, distributors (such as wallets, trading platforms, and fintech platforms) are increasingly becoming the dominant force in value capture. They not only integrate stablecoins but also shape market influence through user relationships and experiences.
· The Rise of New Infrastructure: New infrastructure is developing to support programmability, compliance, and value sharing to accommodate diverse use cases. Stablecoins are no longer just simple digital assets; they are dynamic financial primitives capable of adapting to the demands of different scenarios.
· Data Insights: The report provides detailed data analysis showing that stablecoin supply and trading volume are primarily concentrated in centralized exchanges (CEXs), DeFi protocols, and maximum extractable value (MEV) infrastructure. Unattributed wallets also represent a significant share, indicating the growth potential of grassroots users and emerging use cases.
Below is the original text of the research report:
Executive Summary
Whether stablecoins will reshape global finance is no longer the question; it's how they will reshape it. Early on, the growth of stablecoins was measured by total supply. The key challenge was trust: which issuers are credible, compliant, and scalable? That question has been answered. Today's leading issuers demonstrate operational resilience, and new entrants are entering the market with institutional backing and regulatory readiness.
As issuance becomes commoditized, power is shifting from minting to distribution. The days of astonishing profits at the issuer level are numbered—distributors are beginning to realize their influence and claim their share of the value. Given this transition, understanding which applications, protocols, and platforms are achieving real growth is becoming increasingly important. Are stablecoins driving real payments? Cross-border flows? Institutional finance?
In the competitive landscape of stablecoins, distributors need to capture the value they create to survive. Every digital bank, wallet, or fintech company moving stablecoins is generating revenue—the only question is who retains it. Builders recognizing this are shifting from default choices to offering options with programmability, embedded financial tracks, and modular infrastructure.
Just as early innovations were defined by reserve quality and protocol security, the next era will be defined by product design and distribution strategies. Those doing the right things will define the future of finance.
About This Report
This report aims to redefine our understanding of stablecoin growth: from issuance to implementation. This is the first in a series of reports examining the landscape of evolving stablecoin use cases, mapping the distribution of key applications, and estimating reserve-based revenues associated with major categories. By analyzing the changes in usage patterns over time, we reveal the evolution of use cases—and where value is truly created. While the data in this report highlights many of the largest participants, not all entities are captured due to attribution limitations. Our goal is to support more informed discussions, developments, and investments encompassing both emerging and established use cases.
Industry Insights
· We are in the midst of a significant transformation—a shift in perspective, where stablecoins are no longer viewed as 'cryptocurrencies,' but rather as 'global infrastructure'; a shift in utility, where financial builders are actively reshaping their products to leverage these new tracks. The arena is changing; be prepared. —Ran Goldi, Senior Vice President of Payments and Networks at Fireblocks
· The growth of stablecoins has reached escape velocity, and regulatory clarity is opening doors for institutions. The next frontier is not just who holds scale today—it concerns the business models of all participants in the stablecoin supply chain, from issuers to distributors to holders. In the next 12–24 months, we will certainly see changes and challenges in the value chain and value accumulation. —Martin Carrica, VP of Stablecoins at Anchorage Digital
· Stablecoins are the first primitives of the new financial stack. Everything we know about finance is being rebuilt on stablecoins. And the winners? They will control distribution. —Simon Taylor, Head of Strategy and Content at Sardine
· Stablecoins have rapidly transitioned from experimental to essential within just a few years, enjoying undeniable product-market fit. However, we are now entering a new era where issuance and liquidity alone are insufficient for sustained growth. The next phase of stablecoin adoption will involve new factors, including sharing economic benefits with partners, the ease of on-chain and off-chain integration, and the extent to which programmability features are utilized. —Jelena Djuric, Co-founder and CEO of Noble
· Stablecoins have proven to be extremely profitable, whether through Tether's excess returns, Stripe's Bridge acquisition, or the annual settlement volume of $10 trillion, solidifying their status as the foundation of global financial infrastructure. —Stefan Cohen, Partner at Bain Capital Crypto
Table of Contents
1. The Stablecoin Landscape
2. From Minting to Market
3. Use Case Analysis
· Total Market
· Centralized Exchanges (CEXs)
· Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
· Maximum Extractable Value (MEV)
· Unattributed Wallets
4. Conclusion
Stablecoin Overview
Beyond Market Capitalization
Stablecoins have become one of the most widely used products in cryptocurrency. With a supply exceeding $240 billion and annual on-chain trading volumes surpassing $7 trillion, they scale to rival traditional payment networks. But these numbers tell an incomplete story. Supply reflects the existence of stablecoins, not their usage, flow, or purpose. Meanwhile, trading volume reflects a mix of on-chain human activity and bot programs, without capturing off-chain data.
Usage is the New Trend
Not all stablecoins in circulation are equal. Some are dormant. Others are key drivers of real economic activity across platforms, users, and regions. As seen in (2025 Stablecoin Status), there are clear distinctions between ecosystems. Stablecoins on Ethereum tend to be used as DeFi collateral and trading liquidity, while stablecoins on Tron are more often used for remittances and payments in emerging markets. USDC holds a high share in institutional liquidity, while USDT thrives due to its reach and accessibility.
These usage patterns not only reflect the direction of value flow but also provide builders with opportunities to target underserved or high-growth niche markets. Understanding where stablecoins are implemented and what functions they fulfill is now the clearest signal for assessing the authenticity of adoption and where the next wave of innovation will emerge.
From Institutional Issuance to Market Distribution
Historical Value of Issuers
In the early days of stablecoins, value capture was concentrated among issuers. Maintaining a 1:1 peg at scale is a challenge few have managed well. Tether and Circle dominate not only because they were early entrants but because they are among the few capable of consistently managing issuance and redemption, reserve management, banking partner integration, and surviving market pressures.
Monetization through reserve earnings (primarily short-term U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents) translates even moderate interest rates into significant revenue. Early successes have doubled down: trading platforms, wallets, and DeFi protocols built around USDT and USDC have reinforced the network effects of distribution and liquidity.
Distribution as a Value Layer
Reliable custody, liquidity, and redemption are no longer differentiators—they are expected. As more issuers enter the market with similar capabilities, the importance of the issuers themselves diminishes. What matters is what users can do with stablecoins. Thus, power is shifting from issuers to distributors. Integrating stablecoins into real-world use case wallets, trading platforms, and applications now holds influence and leverage. They possess user relationships, shape experiences, and increasingly determine which stablecoins gain traction.
Moreover, they are monetizing this status. Circle's recent IPO filing shows it paid nearly $900 million to partners like Coinbase in 2023—over half its total revenue—for integration and promotion of USDC. The current situation is that issuers pay distributors, not the other way around.
Many distributors are moving further upstream. PayPal has launched PYUSD. Telegram is collaborating with Ethena. Meta is exploring stablecoin tracks again. Fintech platforms like Stripe, Robinhood, and Revolut are embedding stablecoins directly into payment, savings, and trading functionalities. Issuers are not standing still. Tether is building wallets and payment tracks. Circle is evolving through payment APIs, developer tools, and infrastructure acquisitions. But the dynamic is clear: distribution is now a strategic high ground.
Built for Programmability and Precision
As the adoption of stablecoins expands, new infrastructure is emerging—built for programmability, compliance, and value sharing. Simply relying on issuance is no longer sufficient to compete. Stablecoins must adapt to the platform demands driving usage. Next-generation stablecoins will include programmability features, such as hooks, compliance rules, and conditional transfers. These capabilities will make stablecoins application-sensitive assets that automatically route value to merchants, developers, liquidity providers, or affiliates without off-chain protocols.
Each use case has a unique context. Remittances prioritize speed and conversion, DeFi requires composability and collateral flexibility, and fintech integration demands compliance and auditability. The emerging infrastructure stack is designed to serve these diverse needs, allowing the stablecoin layer to dynamically adapt to its context rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution. Crucially, this infrastructure shift enables more precise value capture. Programmable flows mean that value can be shared throughout the stack—not just hoarded by issuers. Stablecoins are becoming dynamic financial primitives, incentivized and shaped by their moving ecosystems.
Focus on Use Cases
As the value capture of stablecoins shifts downstream, it is the distributors that define their actual use. Wallets, trading platforms, fintech applications, payment platforms, and DeFi protocols determine which stablecoins users can see, how they interact with these stablecoins, and where they create utility. These platforms shape user experiences and control the demand side of the stablecoin economy. Analyzing the actual use of stablecoins in payments, savings, trading, DeFi, and remittances can reveal who is creating value, where the friction points are, and which distribution channels are effective. By tracking the flow of stablecoins across wallets and platforms, we can gain insights into the infrastructure and incentives that influence their applications.
Use Case Analysis
This report focuses on stablecoin use cases associated with attributed wallets—these addresses are identified as belonging to specific entities, such as centralized exchanges, DeFi protocols, or institutional participants. Among these known (also referred to as 'tagged') participants, stablecoin usage is currently concentrated in three primary environments:
1. Centralized Exchanges
2. DeFi Protocols
3. MEV Infrastructure
The table below shows supply and trading volume shares by category as of April 2025:
These three categories account for 38% of total stablecoin supply and 63% of total stablecoin trading volume. Unattributed addresses constitute the majority of the remaining supply and trading volume. These are wallets that are not directly linked to known entities, trading platforms, or smart contracts. We will explore the trends of unattributed addresses later in this report. To estimate the revenue for supply businesses, we take the current floating reserves and calculate a 4.33% annual yield based on the current effective federal funds rate in the U.S. In practice, many issuers' yields would be higher, but this is a rough benchmark to estimate expected earnings.
Total Market Overview
· Total Stablecoin Supply: $240 Billion
· Total Stablecoin Trading Volume: $3.1 Trillion (Last 30 Days)
· Reserve Revenue: $10 Billion (Assuming Fixed Floating Annual Yield)
Total Stablecoin Supply by Use Case
The distribution of stablecoin supply reveals which platforms and use cases are compelling enough to attract and retain liquidity. Total supply has steadily climbed since the summer of 2023, reaching an all-time high this year, with CEXs, DeFi, and unattributed wallets all experiencing substantial growth.
Top 10 Entities by Stablecoin Supply
The majority of stablecoin supply is concentrated in centralized exchanges, with Binance holding a significant lead. DeFi protocols and issuers also hold substantial shares.
Total Stablecoin Trading Volume by Use Case
Since the summer of 2023, total trading volume of stablecoins has steadily climbed, with significant spikes during periods of high market activity. DeFi trading volume has shown the highest growth, while MEV and unattributed wallet trading volumes are high but volatile.
Top 10 Entities by Stablecoin Trading Volume
Entities with the highest stablecoin trading volumes are often centralized exchanges, followed by DeFi and issuing entities. CEX trading volumes do not reflect trading on CEX platforms, as most transactions occur off-chain. Instead, it reflects user deposits and withdrawals, inter-exchange transfers, and internal operational activities.
In-Depth Analysis by Use Case
Centralized exchanges continue to anchor stablecoin supply, holding a significant portion of circulation across various ecosystems. In terms of trading volume, DeFi protocols and MEV-driven participants are currently the most active, highlighting the growing role of on-chain applications and composable infrastructure. This section will delve deeper into these categories to analyze key players, emerging trends, and revenue opportunities.
Centralized Exchanges (CEXs)
· Stablecoin Supply Share: 27%
· Stablecoin Trading Volume Share: 11% (Last 30 Days)
· Reserve Revenue: $3 Billion (Assuming Fixed Floating Annual Yield)
Top 5 CEXs by Stablecoin Holdings
Since the local low in 2023, supply from top centralized exchanges (CEXs) has nearly doubled. Coinbase, Binance, and Bybit's supplies often fluctuate with the market, while Kraken and OkX's supplies have been more stable.
Top 5 CEXs by Stablecoin Transfer Volume
Due to most activities occurring off-chain, it is challenging to obtain specific data on how centralized exchanges (CEXs) use stablecoins. Funds are often pooled together, with specific uses rarely disclosed. This opacity makes it difficult to assess the comprehensiveness of stablecoin usage within centralized exchanges (CEXs).
Stablecoin trading volumes attributed to centralized exchanges (CEXs) reflect on-chain activities related to deposits, withdrawals, inter-exchange transfers, and liquidity operations, rather than internal trades, margin collateral, or fee settlements. Thus, it is best viewed as an indicator of user interactions with trading platforms, rather than a measure of total trading activity.
DeFi
· Stablecoin Supply Share: 11%
· Stablecoin Trading Volume Share: 21% (Last 30 Days)
· Reserve Revenue: $1.1 Billion (Assuming Fixed Floating Annual Yield)
Major Categories of DeFi Stablecoin Holdings
DeFi stablecoin supply comes from collateral, liquidity provider (LP) assets, and the settlement layer of lending markets, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and derivatives protocols. Over the past 6 months, supply from CDPs, lending, perpetual contracts, and staking has nearly doubled. DEX supply share has significantly decreased, not due to a decline in DEX usage, but because of higher capital efficiency in DEXs. With the rising popularity of Hyperliquid, supply locked in perpetual contracts has recently surged.
Major Categories of DeFi Stablecoin Trading Volume
Over the past 6 months, monthly stablecoin trading volume in DeFi has grown from about $100 billion to over $600 billion, primarily driven by significant growth in DEXs, lending, and CDPs.
In DeFi, stablecoins are deployed in several key areas:
· DEX Pool
· Lending Market
· Collateral Debt Positions
· Others (including perpetual bonds, bridge bonds, and staking)
These segments utilize stablecoins in different ways—whether as liquidity, collateral, or payment—shaping user behavior and protocol-level economics.
Top DEXs Ranked by Stablecoin TVL
Concentrated liquidity, stablecoin-focused DEXs, and cross-protocol composability reduce the need for DEXs to maintain high stablecoin volatility.
Share of DEX in Total Stablecoin Volume
Trading volume of stablecoins in DeFi mainly comes from DEXs. The share of DEXs in total trading volume fluctuates with market sentiment and trading trends, with recent memecoin trading volumes surging to over $500 billion, accounting for 12% of total trading volume.
Top Lending Markets Ranked by Stablecoin TVL
Although lending activities have receded from their peak, Aave has shown strong recovery momentum, while newer protocols like Morpho, Spark, and Euler have also gained attention.
Top Collateral Debt Positions (CDPs) Ranked by Stablecoin TVL
MakerDAO continues to manage one of the largest stablecoin vaults in DeFi, with high savings rates driving the adoption of DAI. They hold billions in stablecoins, which play a critical role in maintaining DAI's peg to the dollar.
Other Top DeFi Protocols Ranked by Stablecoin TVL
Stablecoins also play a critical role in supporting derivatives, synthetic assets, perpetual contracts, and trading protocols within DeFi. Supply has rotated among various perpetual contract protocols over time, currently primarily concentrated in Hyperliquid, Jupiter, and Ethereal.
MEV
· Stablecoin Supply Share: <1%
· Stablecoin Trading Volume Share: 31% (Last 30 Days)
· Reserve Revenue: Not Applicable (Assuming Fixed Floating Annual Yield)
MEV vs Non-MEV Trading Volume
MEV bots capture value by reordering transactions. Their high-frequency behavior leads to an excessive share of on-chain trading volume and often reuses the same capital. The above chart distinguishes MEV-driven activity to differentiate bot trading volume from manual trading volume. MEV trading volume spikes during peak trading periods and fluctuates as blockchains and applications attempt to counter MEV strategies. Predicting revenue for high trading volume, low volatility use cases like MEV is not as straightforward as predicting for high volatility use cases. Predicting reserve yield here is less applicable, but these use cases can adopt various monetization strategies, such as trading fees, spread capture, embedded financial services, and monetization of specific applications.
Unattributed Wallets
· Stablecoin Supply Share: 54%
· Stablecoin Trading Volume Share: 35% (Last 30 Days)
· Reserve Revenue: $5.6 Billion (Assuming Fixed Floating Annual Yield)
Stablecoin activity in unattributed wallets is harder to explain, as the intent behind transactions must be inferred or confirmed through private data. Nevertheless, these wallets account for a significant portion of stablecoin supply and often represent the majority of trading volume.
The composition of unattributed wallets includes:
· Retail Investors
· Institutions with Undetermined Identities
· Startups and SMEs
· Dormant or Passive Holders
· Unclassified Smart Contracts
While the attribution model is imperfect, the share of wallets in this 'gray space' category is increasingly significant in real-world payments, savings, and operational processes, many of which do not fully map to traditional DeFi or trading frameworks. Some of the most promising use cases are emerging here, including:
· P2P Remittances
· Startup Treasuries
· Dollar Savings of Individuals in Inflationary Economies
· Cross-Border B2B Payments
· E-Commerce and Merchant Settlements
· In-Game Economics
As regulatory transparency increases and payment-centric infrastructure continues to attract capital, these emerging use cases are expected to expand rapidly—especially in traditionally underserved banking areas. We will explore this portion in detail in the second part of this series. For now, let's look at some overall trends:
Total Number of Holders by Holdings
Despite the vast number of unattributed wallets—over 150 million—the majority hold negligible balances. Over 60% of unattributed wallets hold less than $1 in stablecoins, while wallets holding over $1 million in stablecoin balances are fewer than 20,000.
Total Stablecoin Holdings by Wallet Size
When we shift our focus to the wallet sizes corresponding to each balance range, the situation flips entirely. Fewer than 20,000 unattributed wallets holding over $1 million collectively possess over $76 billion, accounting for 32% of total stablecoin supply. Meanwhile, wallets with balances under $10,000—over 99% of unattributed wallets—collectively hold $9 billion, less than 4% of total stablecoin supply. Most wallets are small, but the majority of unattributed stablecoin supply is held by a tiny group of high-value entities. This distribution reflects the dual nature of stablecoin usage: on one end, broad grassroots access, and on the other end, significant concentration among institutions or whales.
Conclusion
The stablecoin ecosystem has entered a new phase, with value increasingly flowing to developers building applications and infrastructure. This marks a key maturation of the market; its focus will shift from the currency itself to the programmable systems that make the currency work. With the refinement of regulatory frameworks and the surge of user-friendly applications, stablecoins will experience exponential growth. They will combine the stability of fiat currency with the programmability of blockchain, making them foundational cornerstones for building the future of global finance.
The future of stablecoins belongs to developers who create applications, infrastructure, and experiences that unlock their full potential. As this shift accelerates, we can expect more innovations in how value is created, distributed, and captured throughout the ecosystem. The future will be defined not just by stablecoins, but by the ecosystems that form around them.
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