Stablecoins dominate the global payment landscape | How does the "digital dollar" reshape the global monetary order?

1. From “Crypto Accessory” to Global Payment Protagonist: The Rise of Stablecoins

In just five years, stablecoins have grown from a "niche tool in the crypto industry" to the backbone of the global financial system.

According to CoinMetrics data, as of October 2025, the total market capitalization of stablecoins has exceeded $3.42 trillion , accounting for 48% of the entire cryptoasset market. Of this total, the three major dollar-denominated stablecoins —USDT, USDC, and FDUSD— have a combined market capitalization exceeding $2.9 trillion . Their application scenarios have long expanded from transaction matching to core financial services such as cross-border payments, stored value, payroll settlement, and supply chain financing .

Even more striking is:

• In the global payment market, stablecoin transaction volume has exceeded US$15.3 trillion , a year-on-year increase of 147%.

• More than 58% of cross-border e-commerce platforms and payment gateways already support stablecoin settlement.

• In emerging markets such as Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, more than 30% of personal savings have been partially converted into stablecoins.

In other words, stablecoins have evolved from "tools in the crypto world" to "critical infrastructure of the global financial system."

2. The Wave of Digital Dollarization: Capital Migration from Emerging Markets

The biggest beneficiary of the rise of stablecoins is the US dollar.
Since most stablecoins (such as USDT, USDC, and FDUSD) are anchored to the US dollar, the rapid popularization of stablecoins has brought about an unprecedented phenomenon - global digital dollarization .

In high-inflation countries such as Argentina, Nigeria, Türkiye, and Vietnam, stablecoins have become the "digital savings accounts" of ordinary people:

• 🇦🇷 Argentina's peso currency depreciated by over 80%, while stablecoin holdings increased by 260%.

• 🇳🇬 60% of freelancers in Nigeria receive their overseas income via stablecoins.

• 🇻🇳 42% of cross-border e-commerce transactions in Vietnam use USDT or USDC for settlement.

This trend triggered a chain reaction: bank deposits were drained away, monetary policy failed, and capital flowed into the US dollar system.

Standard Chartered warned in an October 2025 research note:

“If the current trend continues, stablecoins will absorb approximately $1 trillion in deposits from emerging market banks within three years. This is not only a challenge for commercial banks but also a crisis for monetary sovereignty.”

This wave of "on-chain dollars" has further consolidated the dollar's position in the global monetary system and provided the United States with new digital weapons in its global financial hegemony.

3. Restructuring the global payment order: SWIFT is being replaced

The emergence of stablecoins has not only changed the way of storing value, but also completely subverted the traditional payment infrastructure.

In the past, cross-border payments required intermediaries like banks and the SWIFT network, which was time-consuming and expensive. Today, the rise of stablecoin networks has made “point-to-point instant payments” a reality:

According to data released by Circle, the global cross-border settlement volume completed through stablecoins in 2025 has exceeded 34% of the total SWIFT transaction volume , and this proportion is expected to exceed 50% by 2027.

This means that the cross-border payment system monopolized by banks and SWIFT for a century is being replaced by a cheaper, faster and more open "on-chain infrastructure".

4. Central Bank Monetary Sovereignty Crisis: Stablecoins Become “Unofficial Reserve Currencies”

As the penetration of stablecoins deepens, global central banks are facing unprecedented challenges: traditional monetary policy tools are becoming ineffective .

1. Monetary policy transmission is hindered

When a large amount of funds are transferred to on-chain stablecoins, the role of the central bank's traditional tools such as deposit reserves and interest rate regulation will be weakened.
For example, the Argentine central bank has raised interest rates several times to curb inflation, but the outflow of stablecoin capital has led to a further decline in demand for the local currency, forming a vicious cycle.

2. Decline in the reserve status of the local currency

In some emerging market countries, stablecoins have even replaced local currencies as “de facto reserve assets.” In countries like Nigeria and Venezuela, some business contracts, real estate transactions, and salary payments are directly denominated in USDT.

3. Cross-border supervision becomes increasingly difficult

The borderless nature of stablecoins makes capital controls virtually ineffective. Regulators are unable to track on-chain transactions and are unable to prevent capital flight.

The IMF stated in its latest report: “The expansion of stablecoins may be the greatest challenge to national monetary sovereignty since the Bretton Woods system.”

5. The three major camps compete: the "Cold War on Digital Currency" is in full swing

As the strategic significance of stablecoins continues to increase, three major competing camps have emerged in the global financial system:

🇺🇸 US Camp: Digital Dollar Hegemony Strategy

• USDT and USDC have become tools for extending the “soft power of the US dollar”.

• The U.S. Treasury Department and the SEC are promoting the Stablecoin Regulation Act to provide an institutional basis for its legalization.

• The Federal Reserve is studying an “official on-chain dollar” as a hedge against private stablecoins.

🇪🇺 EU Camp: Euro Stablecoin and MiCA Compliance Framework

• The ECB promotes the "Euro Stablecoin" as a supplement to the SEPA payment system.

• The MiCA Act requires stablecoin issuers to obtain a license from the central bank and hold 100% reserves.

• The European Union encourages local financial institutions to launch compliant stablecoins to compete with the US dollar.

🇨🇳 China Camp: RMB Stablecoin's "Offshore Strategy"

• Promote the internationalization of the RMB by issuing RMB-pegged stablecoins (such as AxCNH) in Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and other places.

• Combined with the “Belt and Road” infrastructure, a cross-border settlement “RMB stablecoin corridor” will be created.

• Establish a local currency stablecoin payment ecosystem in the African and Central Asian markets to weaken the dominance of the US dollar.

This competition is no longer a contest of "encryption technology", but a struggle for monetary sovereignty, financial hegemony and geopolitics .

6. Outlook for the next decade: Stablecoins will become the “operating system” of the global economy

The essence of stablecoins is not a "digital currency tool" but a brand-new financial operating system (Financial OS) , which may reshape the underlying logic of global economic operations in the next decade:

1. 🏦Reconstruction of the banking model : Traditional banks will transform into "on-chain financial intermediaries", providing custody, clearing and compliance services.

2. 🌐 Payment network integration : Visa and Mastercard have integrated stablecoin payment interfaces, and future payments will be seamless across chains.

3. 📊Tokenization of capital markets : Stocks, bonds, and funds will all be issued and traded on-chain using stablecoins as the base unit.

4. 🪙Coexistence of central bank digital currencies : CBDC and stablecoins will form a "dual-track system" that complement and collaborate in different scenarios.

5. 🔐Upgraded regulatory framework : The world will establish unified stablecoin audit standards, anti-money laundering mechanisms and cross-border collaboration systems.

As JPMorgan Chase puts it in its latest white paper:

“Stablecoins are not the end of the financial revolution, but the starting point of the digital transformation of global finance. They will become the ‘TCP/IP protocol’ of the 21st century financial infrastructure.”

📊 Summary: The “On-chain Reboot” of the Global Monetary Landscape

From a simple "transaction auxiliary tool" to the "backbone of the global payment system", the status of stablecoins has achieved a qualitative leap in 2025.
It is changing not only the way payments and value are stored, but also the entire operating logic of global capital flows, monetary sovereignty and geo-economics.

In the next decade, global currency competition will no longer be a battle of interest rates or economic size, but a battle of codes and protocols .
In this new financial world, whoever masters the "stablecoin standard" will control the future monetary order.