The Role of Stablecoins in Crypto in 2025

Stacey Wonder

Experts have predicted an increase in the total value locked (TVL) in the stablecoin sector to $300 billion, as well as an increase in the level of acceptance of these assets. The opinions of key players and analysts in the crypto asset sector have been collected in Cointelegraph. Main points:

• Experts agreed that the dominance of USDC and USDC will continue while the TVL sector will grow.
• The main problem of the segment will remain the inconsistency of rules in different jurisdictions.

So, let’s dive deep.

TVL of $300 Billion and the Dominance of the Largest Stablecoins

As a reminder, in early December 2024, the total value locked in this category updated its historical high at over $200 billion. This is approximately 5% of the crypto market capitalization in general.

Most of this amount, almost $182 billion, is accounted for by two assets — USDT and USDC, according to CoinGecko. Experts are confident that the dominance of these stablecoins will continue, and the sector’s TVL will exceed $300 billion.

Alchemy Pay’s chief marketing officer, Ailona Tsik, believes that a large market share will remain for stablecoins backed by fiat. Tsik noted that the adoption of these assets in both emerging markets and the decentralized applications sector will accelerate.

Users Will Prefer to Earn on their Stablecoins

As the stablecoin ecosystem matures, users are increasingly looking for ways to generate returns on their holdings. This is well-demonstrated by PayPal’s PYUSD. Industry experts anticipate more stablecoin issuers will follow suit in 2025, introducing innovative yield-bearing mechanisms to attract and retain users.

This demand for earning opportunities arises out of the users’ need to fight inflation without compromising the stability of their digital assets. This trend represents a natural evolution from the mere use of stablecoins as a store of value or medium of exchange to see them as productive instruments of finance. However, the increasing presence of “exotic” yield-generating stablecoins could introduce complex risks that retail users might not fully understand, according to Vishal Gupta. This again underlines the need for transparent risk disclosure and clear regulatory frameworks that efficiently balance investor protection with space for innovation.

Another factor that could further accelerate institutional adoption is the recent trend toward yield-bearing stablecoins, as businesses look for effective ways to manage treasury operations while earning returns on their digital asset holdings. This development also bodes well for the broader prediction of increased stablecoin usage in B2B payments and cross-border transactions.

One such perspective project is Molecula. It offers safe deposits for stablecoin holders, especially for traditional investors.

Demand for Cards with Support for Stablecoins

According to Cuy Sheffield, head of cryptocurrency at Visa, 2024 was a period of renewed demand for these assets. At the same time, the available ways to spend stablecoins remain limited, the expert believes.

In this regard, he expects the demand for cards supporting stablecoins to grow significantly in 2025.

According to Sheffield, Visa plans to expand its capabilities to allow issuers to directly pay on such cards with the company through stablecoins.

Uphold CEO Simon McLoughlin is confident that stablecoins will become a new trend in international payments in 2025. He also cited examples of new assets specialized for cross-border payments. The latter include, in particular, the RLUSD stablecoin from Ripple Labs.

Bill Zielke, the market director at BitPay, also stated this. According to him, in 2024, stablecoins account for 5% of all transactions on the platform. At the same time, they occupy about 25% of the total volume.

Zielke believes that this trend will continue in 2025. According to him, the role of stablecoins in B2B payments will only increase.

The Key Problem is Regulatory Differences

“One of the key challenges we foresee for stablecoins in 2025 is navigating the evolving regulatory landscape,” Alchemy Pay’s Tsik said.

Ben Reynolds, head of stablecoins at BitGo, elaborated on this idea. According to him, regulatory uncertainty and lack of transparency will remain the key challenges for the sector in 2025.

The main obstacle to eliminating this is the inconsistency of approaches in different countries, as pointed out by Vishal Gupta, founder of the True Markets project.

In this regard, Gupta emphasized that jurisdictions with clear, simple, and understandable rules are likely to benefit, while markets with overly complex and burdensome regulations will lose. The expert is referring to the MiCA regulation in the EU.

It is worth reminding that representatives of stablecoin issuers have repeatedly stated the risks generated by this regulatory framework.

Stablecoin Trends in 2025

Experts have identified three main areas in which the development of stablecoins is expected to be the most rapid:

• L2 solutions;
• Profitability;
• Compatibility.

Zielke believes that the key trend will be the introduction of stablecoins at the second level, for example, in the Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base networks. Reynolds pointed out that the sector is likely to receive a boost in terms of blockchain compatibility and consolidation.

This will allow stablecoins to move seamlessly across the ecosystem, creating new opportunities in retail and institutional markets.

Morph’s COO, Azeem Khan, added that new stablecoins with a built-in profitability mechanism are likely to appear on the market. As an example, he mentioned PYUSD from PayPal, whose owners can receive remuneration for directly owning the asset.

Conclusion

The stablecoin market could surge in 2025, with forecasters predicting that TVL will reach $300 billion. USDT and USDC are very likely to further build on their market share, with new use cases coming up for international payments and card services. However, inconsistency in regulatory approaches from regulators remains a key challenge, with further development likely around L2 solutions, yield mechanisms, and cross-chain interoperability. While innovation continues with “exotic” stablecoins, industry leaders are raising the bar to balance innovation with transparency and consumer protection.

BIO:

Stacey Wonder is a content marketer who enjoys sharing best practices for self-development and careers with others. In her free time, Stacey is fond of contemporary dance and classic French movies. You may feel free to reach out to her at GuestpostingNinja@gmail.com or for collaboration suggestions.

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