📊 As of August 11, the total market value of stablecoins has surpassed $270 billion. In July, the US (GENIUS Act) was signed into effect, establishing the regulatory framework for stablecoins for the first time. From that moment, stablecoins have transitioned from mere payment tools in the crypto space to a strategic stronghold in global finance.

(Stablecoin Status in 2025) report shows that 49% of institutions globally are already using stablecoin payments, and 41% are piloting or planning to introduce them. Why are major players rushing to lay out stablecoin chains? What projects are worth paying attention to?

🔍 Notable stablecoin chains to watch

1️⃣ Circle: Arc

  • Arc launched on August 12—Layer-1 blockchain specifically designed for stablecoin financial scenarios

  • Using USDC as native Gas, supporting low and predictable USD-denominated transaction fees

  • Equipped with the Malachite high-performance consensus mechanism, achieving sub-second finality with optional privacy protection

  • Application scenarios cover cross-border payments, stablecoin derivatives, on-chain credit, and capital market settlements

  • Public beta in Fall 2025, mainnet launch in 2026

2️⃣ Stripe & Paradigm: Tempo

  • Stripe collaborates with crypto investment firm Paradigm to develop Tempo, a high-performance, low-latency payment solution

  • Compatible with the Ethereum development environment, facilitating seamless project migration

  • Focusing on real-time settlement and cross-border payments for stablecoins, targeting the pain point of high fees in traditional payments

  • Building a payment closed loop of issuance (Bridge) + wallet (Privy) + settlement (Tempo)

3️⃣ USDT: Plasma

  • EVM-compatible PoS chain, specifically designed for high throughput and low latency stablecoin transfers

  • Dual-validator architecture, one group responsible for security, the other for gas-free USDT transfers

  • Zero-fee transfer as an optional feature, with automatic off-chain exchange of transaction fees

4️⃣ Tether: Stable

EVM-compatible Layer 1, focusing on zero-fee transactions and compliance verification nodes

USDT as native Gas, sub-second confirmation

Achieving full-stack optimization of performance and ecosystem in three phases, including DAG consensus, transaction aggregation, etc.

5️⃣ Cosmos: Noble

  • Native asset issuance chain built on Cosmos SDK

  • The first platform to introduce USDC into the Cosmos ecosystem, supporting IBC cross-chain

  • Issuing USD stablecoin USDN and Euro stablecoin EURe, with an annualized yield of up to 4.2%

💡 Why are giants clustering around stablecoin chains?

1. Favorable regulations

  • Regulations such as the (GENIUS Act) and Hong Kong (Stablecoin Regulations) have emerged, ushering stablecoins into a compliant competitive era

  • US high-level officials have repeatedly praised the payment innovation value of stablecoins

2. Exploding market demand

  • The stablecoin market is expected to grow about 8 times by the end of 2028

  • In 2024, the total transaction volume of stablecoins will reach $27.6 trillion, exceeding the combined total of Visa and Mastercard

3. Competing for financial discourse power

  • Stablecoin chains are not just payment tools, but also battlegrounds for 'accounting rights' and 'minting rights'

  • Projects like Arc, Stable, and Noble are formulating industry standards for cross-chain, transaction fees, and Gas tokens

  • Whoever controls the standards has the opportunity to lead the new generation of financial infrastructure

🔮 Conclusion

With regulations gradually becoming clearer and market demand surging, the battle for stablecoin chains has fully commenced 🔥. This is not just a competition among giants for future financial rules, but a key experiment in the deep integration of crypto technology and traditional finance. The foundation for the next global payment system may be taking shape within these stablecoin chains.