Stablecoins could process $50 trillion in transactions in 2026, potentially eclipsing major card networks, according to Powell's most aggressive prediction.
Crypto News
Maple Finance CEO Sid Powell declared "DeFi is dead" during a recent interview with CoinDesk, though his statement signals the end of distinguishing decentralized finance from traditional markets rather than the collapse of blockchain-based financial systems. Powell predicts institutions will stop differentiating between DeFi and traditional finance within a couple of years as all capital market activity eventually settles on blockchains.
Powell compared the coming shift to the e-commerce revolution that transformed retail shopping. Before the internet, consumers would physically visit merchants to purchase goods and services; however, the majority of shopping now occurs with a few clicks on platforms like Amazon or Alibaba. Blockchains will serve as the next technology layer on which global markets settle, according to Powell's analysis.
The Maple Finance cofounder expects crypto to become the infrastructure for capital markets, with most transactions clearing and settling using public ledgers rather than legacy systems. He anticipates that more debt capital markets will adopt crypto-native structures, including Bitcoin-backed mortgages and asset-backed securities tied to crypto loans, as well as crypto card issuers whose receivables can be securitized and sold into capital markets.
Sovereign wealth funds, pension managers, insurers, and large asset managers will be the primary holders of this new "on-chain paper," according to Powell. The executive characterized this group as "the managerial class that controls the world's financial markets" and predicted they will drive adoption of blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
Stablecoins could process $50 trillion in transactions in 2026, potentially eclipsing major card networks, according to Powell's most aggressive prediction. Following passage of the GENIUS Act, financial giants are adopting or considering stablecoin use en masse, with PayPal launching PYUSD, Société Générale issuing euro and dollar-pegged stablecoins, and Fiserv introducing FIUSD for payment networks.
Wall Street giants, including Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo, have signaled interest in issuing stablecoins, while Visa and Mastercard are building stablecoin settlement rails that could accelerate adoption. Powell frames stablecoins as a powerful tool for merchants and small businesses, who currently pay 2% to 3% to Visa and Mastercard on card payments.
Using stablecoins for settlement can significantly reduce costs, effectively returning several percentage points of revenue to merchants. That economic incentive will push small businesses to adopt stablecoins quickly, while neobanks and traditional banks issue and support them directly, Powell argues.
The Maple Finance CEO compared large stablecoin issuers to insurers like Berkshire Hathaway, noting they enjoy a negative cost of capital. Users deposit dollars, and issuers park those funds in safe assets like Treasury bills, earning yield while paying no interest on liabilities, creating a powerful engine for compounding returns similar to Warren Buffett's insurance float strategy.
Powell predicts the DeFi market could reach $1 trillion within the next couple of years, up from the current $69 billion market cap. The space remains cyclical and macro-dependent, but Powell says it is growing faster than traditional finance and tightly linked to the trajectory of stablecoins and tokenized assets, with DeFi growth ultimately "a function of the market cap of stablecoins and tokenized assets."
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