Key Takeaways
- Major players like Meta, PayPal, and Stripe are integrating stablecoins for payments.
- Traditional financial institutions also launch stablecoins and wallets at a production scale.
- According to Alchemy, cross-chain interoperability is the most urgent technical challenge as more institutions launch their chains.
Stablecoins are steadily moving from the periphery of the crypto ecosystem into the core of global finance. No longer limited to trading or speculative use, they are being adopted for payments, lending, and settlement at an institutional scale.
This shift is being supported by infrastructure providers like Alchemy, whose technology underpins much of the stablecoin activity happening across major platforms.
As regulatory clarity improves and demand from traditional financial institutions grows, stablecoins are becoming less like a crypto experiment and more like a permanent fixture of the modern monetary system.
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Stablecoins and Institutions: A New Financial Backbone
In the past year, Web3 has shifted from experimentation to utility. And stablecoins are now at the center of this evolution.
In a joint response to CCN, the Alchemy team shared their perspective on how stablecoins are becoming the foundation of modern digital finance
“The most significant shift has been a move to real utility,” says Alchemy, the infrastructure provider behind virtually every major stablecoin issuer like Circle (USDC), Tether (USDT), and PayPal (PYUSD).
“We’re seeing stablecoins move to become the default settlement layer for the internet. Companies like Meta, PayPal, and Stripe are integrating stablecoins into their payment systems, leveraging Ethereum’s infrastructure for efficient transactions.”
“Banks are not experimenting anymore. They want production-ready infrastructure for wallets, stablecoins, and DeFi access. That’s why we built Account Kit, which combines Smart Wallet capabilities with our RPC infrastructure to enable non-custodial functionality at scale.”
Traditional Finance Steps In
Big banks are now issuing their stablecoins.
“We’re witnessing a shift from crypto-native issuers to traditional financial institutions. After the SAB 121 repeal, we saw an immediate surge in inquiries from the largest banks in the world,” the Alchemy team told CCN.
Banks and fintech are realizing they can capture the float on reserves, which could bring in hundreds of millions in annual revenue from treasury yields at current rates. And they want ownership.
“The ‘why‘ is simple: control and economics. Financial institutions want to maintain customer relationships rather than ceding them to third-party issuers“ they said.
“We’re working with major banks and fintechs who are all saying the same thing: they want their wallet, their stablecoin, and to access DeFi directly.”
Use Cases Include Payments, Lending, and Global Reach
According to Alchemy, stablecoins are proving their utility across sectors. Companies using stablecoins are solving cross-border payments.
“You can run your company on stablecoins – accept payments, store funds, and pay out as needed. Prediction markets like Polymarket use stablecoins as the medium of exchange for good reasons – simpler, faster, global.”
Bitcoin—or crypto-backed loans will continue to grow in adoption. For the infrastructure company, getting a loan in stablecoin in exchange for locking Bitcoins in one click is a vast improvement over existing products.
“Stablecoins now outrank countries in terms of buying and holding U.S. debt. For example, Tether made about $13 billion in profits for 2024 while holding about $113 billion in direct or indirect holdings of U.S. treasuries,“ the firm team declared.
Also, mainstream adoption is rising; for example, PYUSD processes billions in volume, generating over $200 million in annual revenue from commerce and payments.
For Alchemy, “What’s important to understand about stablecoins is their role in settlement. Stablecoins can be integrated into mainstream payment flows where users often don’t even realize they’re using blockchain technology.”
These institutional stablecoins are a step toward huge improvements: instant settlement, 24/7 availability, and programmable money features that traditional payment rails can’t match.
Infrastructure Challenges and What Comes Next
Despite the growth, infrastructure hurdles remain, and the most considerable under-discussed risk is interoperability.
“Interoperability is the most important challenge, but it’s solvable. As banks and institutions launch their chains and stablecoins, we need robust cross-chain infrastructure to prevent fragmentation in a way that doesn’t create unacceptable trust assumptions,“ Alchemy said.
The next big thing many want clarity on for the company is privacy-preserving primitives.
“Institutions are increasingly concerned about how to protect sensitive data while leveraging transparent, decentralized infrastructure. Technologies like zero-knowledge proofs, secure enclaves, and homomorphic encryption will play a crucial role in unlocking new use cases,“ Alchemy said.
“Circle has taken a highly regulated, transparent approach, with regular attestations, clear banking relationships, and working closely with regulators.
“This makes USDC attractive for institutional use. Tether operates more like a global liquidity provider, prioritizing availability and ease of use across markets.”
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