Every day we open our wallets, transferring USDT for arbitrage and using USDC for cross-border transactions, we have already taken stablecoins as part of our daily lives. Looking at the 284 billion market cap figure, I initially considered it just another milestone in the crypto space, until I finished discussing with friends involved in cross-border trade in Africa and Latin America, only to realize: this thing is not just a crypto payment tool; it is quietly reconstructing the underlying logic of global finance, breaking down barriers maintained by traditional finance for decades, and even handing the first 'global financial passport' to billions who have not enjoyed financial services.
The bank panic is never about the loss of that little deposit, but rather about stablecoins rewriting the 'rules of the financial game'—they detach financial services from bank branches, bypass the SWIFT system, break national and regional boundaries, and send dollar liquidity to corners inaccessible by traditional finance, allowing small and medium-sized enterprises to engage in global trade just like the giants, and enabling ordinary people in Africa without bank accounts to hold a stake against inflation. Behind this 284 billion is a major shift in global finance from 'centralized monopoly' to 'decentralized inclusivity,' representing a fundamental restructuring of the global financial system in the digital age. Today, let’s talk openly about the profound role of stablecoins in the world, which is far more disruptive and valuable than we imagine.
The first layer of power: the ultimate breakthrough of financial inclusion, granting 1.7 billion unbanked people access to global financial rights.
The greatest sin of traditional finance is the "dual discrimination of geography and identity"—if you are born in remote areas of Africa or Southeast Asia, without a bank account or credit history, you are not entitled to basic savings, remittance, and cross-border payment services; if you are a small merchant conducting cross-border business worth a few thousand dollars, you will be shut out by banks' high fees and multiple intermediaries. There are 1.7 billion adults worldwide without bank accounts, abandoned by the traditional financial system, and stablecoins have become the only tool to break this barrier.
60% of Africa's population lacks a bank account, but mobile phone penetration exceeds 70%. With just a mobile phone and a wallet app, one can access the stablecoin system to achieve account-free cross-border payments. In Kenya, vendors receive cross-border payments in USDT without traveling dozens of kilometers to a bank branch; in Nigeria, workers use stablecoins to send remittances home, reducing fees from traditional Western Union's 5%-10% to below 0.1%, and shortening the delivery time from 3 days to 3 seconds. This is not merely an "upgrade of payment tools"; it grants the underprivileged their first access to "global financial rights"—they no longer need to rely on banks or be exploited by high costs; with just a mobile phone, they can participate in global financial transactions.
Looking at the small cross-border merchants around us, a boss in Zhejiang dealing in Yiwu commodities transfers $50,000 to a partner in Vietnam. A bank wire would incur a $3,000 fee and take 4 days, with the risk of delays; switching to TRC20-USDT incurs a fee of less than $50, arrives in seconds, and then through a licensed exchange in Hong Kong complies with forex exchange back to the mainland, saving 70% of time and costs. Stablecoins have turned the small cross-border transactions and small to medium-sized trades that traditional finance "looks down upon" into accessible businesses, allowing millions of small merchants globally to truly participate in global trade. The significance of this for the global economy far exceeds the numbers themselves—finance is no longer the exclusive domain of giants but has descended to every ordinary person and every small merchant, which is the true essence of inclusive finance.
The second layer of power: reconstructing the foundation of cross-border trade, overturning SWIFT's monopoly.
The global cross-border payment settlement system has been monopolized by SWIFT for decades. The core of this system is "centralized intermediaries, multi-layered clearing, and regional barriers"—a cross-border payment must go through multiple intermediaries such as the remitting bank, agent bank, clearing bank, and receiving bank. Each layer takes a cut, and every step requires waiting, often hindered by foreign exchange controls and time zone differences. For small and micro enterprises engaging in cross-border trade, just the settlement costs can eat up half of the profits, while stablecoins are reconstructing this system from the ground up.
Stablecoins leverage the peer-to-peer mechanism of blockchain to achieve "payment equals settlement," with no intermediaries and 7×24 hours of uninterrupted service, reducing cross-border transfer costs by over 60% compared to traditional methods, and shortening settlement times from days to minutes. More crucially, it breaks the separation of "information flow, capital flow, and logistics"—in traditional trade, order information, logistics information, and financial information belong to different platforms, making fraud and delayed payments likely. However, stablecoins combined with smart contracts can achieve "payment on delivery and synchronized transactions," for example, in the Southeast Asian fruit trade, once the buyer confirms receipt of the logistics, the smart contract automatically triggers stablecoin transfer, fundamentally solving the trust issues in cross-border trade.
This is not simply about "replacing SWIFT"; it provides a "second option" for global cross-border trade. SWIFT serves large enterprises and multinational banks, while stablecoins serve countless small and micro enterprises, filling the gaps of the traditional system. It even promotes the "de-dollarization" of emerging markets—merchants in some Southeast Asian countries are beginning to use stablecoins for domestic trade settlements, bypassing the dollar intermediary and reducing exchange rate risks. Stablecoins have lowered the threshold for cross-border trade from "millions of dollars" to "thousands of dollars," making global trade no longer just a game for giants, but a right for all enterprises. The reconstruction of the global trade landscape has just begun.
The third layer of power: the equality revolution of global dollar liquidity, breaking Wall Street's monopoly.
More than 95% of stablecoins are pegged to the dollar, with USDT and USDC accounting for 85% of the market value. Many argue this is an "extension of dollar hegemony," but I believe it is more of a "revolution for dollar liquidity equality"—traditional dollar liquidity has been monopolized by Wall Street banks and multinational financial institutions. Ordinary people wanting to hold dollar assets faced high barriers, needing to open offshore accounts and navigate foreign exchange controls. Stablecoins have turned the dollar into "on-chain assets," allowing anyone, anywhere, to easily hold, use, and transfer dollars, achieving "shared dollar liquidity for all."
In Argentina and Turkey, with annual inflation rates exceeding 50%, local currencies have depreciated overnight, and local banks do not allow people to deposit dollars, making stablecoins their "lifeline for wealth." 52% of Turkey's adult population invests in cryptocurrencies, with 33% in stablecoins. Holding 500 USDC allows them to maintain the value of $500 amidst inflation, while holding local currency would halve in value within six months. In Iran and Venezuela, isolated by SWIFT sanctions, stablecoins have become their only channel for trade with the outside world, with TRC20-USDT seeing 14 million transactions weekly, 69% of which come from these "dollar vacuum zones." With stablecoins, they can continue to export oil and import daily necessities, maintaining economic operations.
What’s more disruptive is that stablecoins have made the global demand for remittances, a basic necessity for the underprivileged, no longer expensive. Global remittance volume exceeds $700 billion annually, with traditional channels averaging 6.35% in costs, and in some regions of Africa, even exceeding 10%. These costs are ultimately borne by the lower-income workers. Stablecoins have reduced remittance costs to below 0.1%, with funds arriving in 3 seconds. In Venezuela, 9% of remittances are flowing through USDT, and the money workers send home will no longer be subject to layers of exploitation.
This is not a simple expansion of dollar hegemony, but a return of the "accessibility" of the dollar to ordinary people. In the traditional financial system, the dollar is the currency of the elite, while stablecoins have transformed the dollar into the "currency of the people"—the dollar liquidity monopolized by Wall Street has finally reached every corner of the globe, landing in the hands of those who need it most. Of course, this also presents challenges for "digital dollarization," as the monetary policy independence of emerging markets is weakened. However, it is undeniable that this equality revolution has made global financial liquidity fairer and more efficient.
The fourth layer of power: the digital catfish of global finance, forcing the traditional system to upgrade comprehensively.
The rise of stablecoins is not primarily about disrupting traditional finance but becoming a "digital catfish," compelling conservative banks, SWIFT, and Visa/Mastercard to keep pace with the digital age and drive a comprehensive digital upgrade of the global financial system.
In the past, banks adhered to T+1 and T+3 clearing rules, closed on weekends, and cross-border payments were as slow as a snail. Now, with stablecoins enabling instant settlements, they have no choice but to launch digital wallets and connect stablecoins to fiat currency exchange channels. Previously, SWIFT profited from its monopoly, but now it is also developing blockchain shared ledgers, collaborating with over 30 global financial institutions to test cross-chain settlements of stablecoins and tokenized assets, and even updating ISO standards to adapt to blockchain addresses and digital asset IDs. Visa and Mastercard have directly entered the field, with Visa launching a stablecoin real-time settlement network, reducing the cross-border prepayment cycle for enterprises from 8 days to 4 days; Mastercard connecting crypto wallets allows users to spend USDC at 150 million merchants globally.
The digitization of traditional finance does not rely on its own innovation but on the pressure exerted by stablecoins. Stablecoins demonstrate through technology that finance can achieve 7×24 hour instant settlement with low costs and no boundaries, and if the traditional system does not keep up, it will be abandoned by the market. This upgrade ultimately benefits all financial users globally—the cross-border payments of banks become faster, fees decrease, SWIFT's services improve, and the digital financial infrastructure becomes more complete. Stablecoins are not the enemy of traditional finance but a catalyst for its evolution, which has profound implications for the long-term development of the global financial system.
The fifth layer of power: the underlying bridge for global asset exchange, connecting the boundless channels of crypto and traditional finance.
If stablecoins are the "blood" of global digital finance, another core function they serve is as a "bottom bridge" connecting the crypto ecosystem and traditional real economy, promoting the boundless circulation of global assets. The current RWA (real-world assets on-chain) wave owes its progress to stablecoins serving as valuation and settlement tools—real estate, bonds, commodities, charging piles—these traditionally high-threshold assets can now be traded with stablecoins, allowing ordinary people to invest in Dubai real estate, U.S. Treasury bonds, and global commodities with just a few hundred dollars.
In Dubai, the government launched the world's first real estate tokenization project, allowing investors to purchase property shares using USDT without going through intermediaries or dealing with transfers, significantly enhancing asset liquidity; domestically, the income rights of charging pile assets have been tokenized, enabling ordinary people to purchase tokens with stablecoins and receive operational benefits from charging piles. Stablecoins break down the "regional barriers" and "threshold barriers" of assets—if you are in China, you can invest in American assets; if you are an ordinary person, you can invest in assets that were previously only accessible to the wealthy. This is a revolution in global asset allocation, allowing global wealth to flow freely and be optimized without being limited by geography or identity.
At the same time, stablecoins have transformed the crypto ecosystem from an "illusion" into one that can truly connect with the real economy. DeFi mining, NFT trading, and AI Agent automation all rely on stablecoins as a medium, and stablecoins can be exchanged for fiat currency through compliant channels, connecting traditional trade and the real economy. Crypto and traditional finance are no longer two separate worlds; they are interconnected through stablecoins, forming a closed loop of "crypto-stablecoin-traditional." This represents a qualitative leap for the development of the global digital economy, enabling blockchain technology to truly land in the real economy and generate actual value.
Not a perfect holy grail, but an inevitable direction for global finance.
Of course, I do not intend to portray stablecoins as perfect holy grails; they also have their risks: controversies over the transparency of USDT reserves, the risks of stablecoins breaking their peg, challenges to monetary policy brought about by "digital dollarization" in emerging markets, and the oligopolistic nature of leading stablecoins are all real issues. However, this does not prevent them from being an inevitable direction for global finance—because they address the core pain points of the traditional financial system: inclusivity, efficiency, and borderlessness.
Now, global regulators are setting rules for stablecoins. Hong Kong's (Stablecoin Regulation), the U.S.'s (Genius Act), and the EU's MiCA are all working through "classification regulation, sandbox testing, and reserve requirements" to transform stablecoins from "shadow currencies" into compliant financial tools. The improvement of regulations does not limit the development of stablecoins but ensures they progress more steadily and further. The future of stablecoins will be characterized by "compliance + multi-currency + cross-chain"; besides USD stablecoins, RMB stablecoins and Euro stablecoins will gradually rise, with Hong Kong already testing offshore RMB stablecoins, which will create a more balanced global digital finance landscape.
After discussing so much, the most practical advice for us in the crypto community on how to seize this trend, based on my practical experience and observations, is to offer you three heartfelt suggestions, all of which can be implemented directly:
1. Choose stablecoins for daily use, keeping up with compliance trends.
For retail investors engaged in daily trades, cross-border transactions, and trading, TRC20-USDT is still the first choice due to its low fees and high liquidity; for institutional trading, RWA investments, and compliant cross-border transactions, use USDC, which is backed by compliance audits and is safer; at the same time, pay attention to Hong Kong's offshore RMB stablecoin, which will be an important trend in the future, so early positioning is essential. Avoid small-cap stablecoins with opaque reserves, as they may collapse at any time; stick to leading compliant ones, ensuring stability.
2. Focus on the "stablecoin + RWA" track to capture the dividends of asset liquidity.
RWA is the most critical landing scenario for stablecoins and also the core opportunity for the future global digital economy. Focus on compliant RWA projects on BNB Chain and Ethereum, such as real estate tokenization, on-chain commodities, and bond tokenization. These projects rely on the trillion-dollar trading demand of stablecoins, supported by real entities in the economy, making them a hundred times more reliable than speculative coins.
3. Focus on the cross-border payment track, following the footsteps of traditional giants.
Visa, Mastercard, and SWIFT are all laying out plans for stablecoin cross-border payments, indicating that the commercialization of this track is not far off. Pay attention to crypto projects partnering with traditional payment giants, such as those creating stablecoin settlement channels and cross-chain payment projects. These projects can benefit from the digital transformation of traditional finance and have huge growth potential.
284 billion is the starting point for global digital finance.
The market value of stablecoins at 284 billion has never been an isolated number but a milestone in the transformation of the global financial system towards digitization, inclusivity, and borderless transactions. It enables financial services to reach every ordinary person, makes cross-border trade accessible, facilitates the boundless circulation of global assets, and compels the traditional financial system to accelerate its evolution.
We in the crypto community are among the first to engage with stablecoins. We use them daily for trading, cross-border transactions, and we have already positioned ourselves at the forefront of global digital finance. The future of global finance will see stablecoins as foundational payment tools, connecting traditional finance, the crypto ecosystem, and the real economy in a new paradigm—finance will no longer be a monopoly of centralized institutions but a fundamental right for everyone.
284 billion is just the beginning. The reconstruction of global finance through stablecoins has only just begun. We are at the center of this transformation; seizing this trend means capturing the core dividends of the future global digital finance.
