The popular Ethereum wallet MetaMask will collaborate with Stripe to launch the stablecoin mmUSD, which could be announced as early as Thursday according to internal sources.
MetaMask, the Ethereum wallet with 100 million users, is preparing to enter the stablecoin market with the mmUSD product, according to sources familiar with the initiative. According to a governance proposal from Aave that appeared last week but was later deleted, this wallet provider will partner with payment service Stripe to introduce mmUSD as the primary trading pair for many of its services. The stablecoin platform M^0 is said to be supporting this effort.
The movement of MetaMask comes amid a booming stablecoin market, thanks to a more favorable regulatory environment in the US and increasing interest from financial institutions. Last month, the US Congress passed the GENIUS Act, a law that provides legal guidelines for USD-pegged tokens. The spectacular IPO success of Circle also boosts market confidence, with shares rising nearly 675% in the first two weeks of trading before adjusting but still remaining almost 400% higher than the IPO price.
The wave of stablecoins from major corporations
In recent months, many large companies have announced stablecoin plans or indicated they are researching deployment, including banks like JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and brokerage firm Robinhood. The stablecoin market currently has a market capitalization of about $280 billion, but Standard Chartered forecasts that this figure could reach $750 billion by the end of 2026, indicating strong growth potential.
Consensys, the entity that owns MetaMask, stated that they are "not making any comments at this time" regarding potential stablecoins, including when an official announcement might be made. However, the partnership with Stripe has solid grounds as last year Stripe acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge for approximately $1.1 billion. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison at that time stated that the company would "build the best stablecoin infrastructure in the world."
The Bridge software allows businesses to accept payments in stablecoins and aims to compete with global payment networks like Swift, Mastercard, and Visa. The combination of Stripe's technological capabilities and MetaMask's massive user base could create a highly competitive stablecoin product.
A recent collaboration between MetaMask and Aave also allows wallet users to earn yields from Aave's decentralized liquidity protocols right within the MetaMask mobile app. Users can access yields from USDC, USDT, and DAI, marking the first step for MetaMask Earn into the DeFi lending space. Aave currently records over $55 billion in net deposits, indicating the significant scale of this ecosystem.
On Myriad, the prediction market developed by the parent company of Decrypt, 52% of participants believe that the market capitalization of stablecoins on Ethereum will exceed $145 billion in August, reflecting positive expectations for the development of this sector in the near future.
