Do you think stablecoins are just 'USDT' in the crypto world? That might be a big mistake. As they gradually step out of exchanges and into banks, cross-border payments, and the Treasury bond market, stablecoins are quietly rewriting the underlying logic of global finance.
Citigroup, in its latest report, bluntly pointed out: stablecoins are on the eve of a critical explosion, and their growth path is highly similar to the early expansion phase of AI applications like ChatGPT.
In other words, we may be standing at the starting point of the next round of financial technology revolution. In the coming years, stablecoins will no longer just be a 'safe haven' for Crypto players but may become an indispensable cornerstone of liquidity in the global financial system.
1. Will the market value of stablecoins surpass $3.7 trillion by 2030?
This is not baseless speculation. According to Citibank's 'Global Perspectives and Solutions' department's model predictions:
The current stablecoin market has exceeded $230 billion;
It has grown nearly 30 times in the past five years;
In an optimistic scenario projection, the total market value could exceed $3.7 trillion by 2030.
This scale is nearly equivalent to one-third of the global credit card payment industry's size in 2022. In more fundamental predictive scenarios, the market value of stablecoins is also expected to easily surpass $16 trillion.
Behind all this is the resonance of three major forces: warming policies, available technology, and institutional demand.
2. 'Regulatory shift' is the biggest driver, with the U.S. and EU leading the way.
In the past, what was the biggest roadblock to the development of stablecoins? A vague regulatory framework.
And now, this puzzle is gradually being completed:
In early 2025, the U.S. will officially pass stablecoin regulatory legislation, clearly defining the capital, reserve requirements, and supervision mechanisms for issuers for the first time;
The EU's (MiCA Act) establishes unified standards across 27 countries for the regulation of Crypto assets;
Multiple central banks have authorized specific stablecoins to participate in payment and settlement systems through a 'white list mechanism'.
This series of legal developments means that the 'gray identity' of stablecoins is disappearing and they are gradually becoming compliant assets that can connect with financial infrastructure.
3. Stablecoins = new buyers of Treasury bonds? $1 trillion in incremental funds may be brewing.
Citibank also pointed out a highly concerning logical chain in its report:
Stablecoins need reserve assets to support them, and the ideal reserve asset is U.S. Treasury bonds.
Thus, we see that the explosion of stablecoins can not only serve retail users, B2B settlements, and remittance channels, but also potentially bring unprecedented 'passive buyer' power to the U.S. Treasury.
It is expected that by 2030, the total holdings of stablecoin issuers in U.S. Treasury bonds will exceed those of any existing foreign central bank or institutional investor, with cumulative incremental demand exceeding $1 trillion.
This viewpoint may explain why the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have recently shifted their regulatory stance towards stablecoins— they are not just 'risks', but potential 'market stabilizers' for Treasury bonds.
4. The use cases are exploding and surpassing the native Crypto ecosystem.
Currently, 95% of stablecoin usage is still concentrated in cryptocurrency trading. But this structure is undergoing a fundamental shift:
Cross-border payments: Achieving second-level settlements with stablecoins, solving the problems of slow bank channels and high costs;
Remittance transfers: In countries like Argentina and Nigeria, they become a hedge against domestic currency depreciation for families;
Enterprise-level liquidity management: Asset management companies and fintech platforms are integrating stablecoins into fund clearing, T+0 delivery, and other scenarios;
The rise of public-private collaborative networks: For example, the evolution of Brazil's PIX system and India's UPI payment system, stablecoins may be embedded in them, forming a national-level regional digital currency ecosystem.
In simple terms, stablecoins are no longer marginal tools in the 'crypto world' but are becoming a new language for global payments, clearing, and asset management.
5. Citigroup's predictive model suggests: stablecoins may replicate the market path of credit cards.
Citigroup further compared stablecoins to the credit card industry:
In the early stages, there was a hundred schools of thought contending, eventually forming a few dominant issuers (such as Visa and Mastercard);
National-level infrastructure participating in building sovereignty (such as India's RuPay and Brazil's Elo);
User experience, reserve transparency, and institutional endorsement will become key to determining 'who can survive'.
In other words, in the future, stablecoins may give birth to a few 'globally accepted' super issuers, as well as dozens of 'localized' compliant stablecoins serving different countries, industries, and scenarios.
In this structure, whoever can establish a trust network will be able to establish dominance in the financial ecosystem.
6. The opportunity window for investors and entrepreneurs has opened.
For investors:
Attention can be paid to projects related to stablecoin infrastructure, such as on-chain settlement tools, cross-border payment protocols, and regulatory compliance bridges;
For AI analysis platforms (such as Mlion.ai) that construct stablecoin reserve assets and intelligent clearing paths, these data services will also become key tools for traffic entry and institutional reliance.
For entrepreneurs:
It's time to jump out of the 'token issuance mindset' and enter the battlefield of 'stablecoin application scenario construction';
Whether it's retail remittances, supply chain payments, or asset tokenization and Treasury bond tokenization, stablecoins are the best intermediary channel for entering traditional finance.
Conclusion:
With the support of AI, digital identity, and decentralized technologies, stablecoins are stepping out of the 'laboratory' of Crypto and heading towards the mainstream financial stage.
This is not just an 'expansion' of a digital asset category but the starting point for the restructuring of the global financial architecture.
And you, are you ready to examine this 'crypto stability wave' with a new understanding? If you want to discover the next potential target earlier, understand the logic of policy evolution, and track institutional layout dynamics, don't overlook the multi-modal analysis and AI sentiment radar provided by Mlion.ai, which may help you get ahead of the wave.
Disclaimer: The above content is for information sharing only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market has risks; investment should be cautious.