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<p>Western Union’s stablecoin <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/wester-union-looks-to-offer-stablecoin-services-ceo-says" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">integration</a>, alongside issuances from PayPal and Ripple, signals that the shift toward a multi-trillion-dollar stablecoin economy is already underway.</p>
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   <li>Stablecoins are already systemically important: Processing $46T annually and rapidly accumulating U.S. debt, issuance has grown to ~$300B and could reach $7–10T as regulation, banks, and corporates align.</li>
   <li>Demand is coming from everywhere: Cross-border payments, EM dollarization, corporate treasuries, money market substitution, RWA settlement, and DeFi collateral each add trillion-dollar tailwinds.</li>
   <li>A new corporate model is emerging: Digital asset treasuries (DATs) are turning stablecoins and on-chain assets into core treasury tools, positioning early adopters to shape the next decade of global finance.</li>
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<p>Stablecoins are already one of the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/03/20/tether-ranks-among-top-foreign-buyers-of-u-s-treasuries-in-2024-firm-says" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">largest</a> purchasers of U.S. government debt, processing <a href="https://coincodex.com/article/75240/stablecoin-volume-46-trillion-2025-andreessen-horowitz/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$46 trillion</a> in volume last year alone, rivaling the U.S. ACH network. Stablecoin supply grew from <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualized-stablecoin-market-size-forecast-into-2030/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$28 billion</a> in 2020 to almost $300 billion today despite regulatory uncertainty, limited institutional buy-in, and restricted access — all factors now shifting in their favor. On current trends, issuance could plausibly hit $10 trillion within five to ten years. Here’s how…</p>
<p>You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/tokenization-wont-matter-until-it-makes-trillions/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Tokenization won’t matter until it makes trillions in collateral move faster | Opinion </a></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="cross-border-payments-and-remittances">Cross-border payments and remittances</h2>
<p>The global cross-border payments market generates <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-2023-mckinsey-global-payments-report" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$200 billion</a> in annual revenues while handling more than <a href="https://payspacemagazine.com/statistics/global-cross-border-payment-statistics-2024/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$40 trillion</a> in volume. Yet, sending even a modest $200 transfer still averages above <a href="https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">6%</a> in fees and can take days to settle. Stablecoins offer near-instant settlement at fees under 1%. Circle <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250421041939/en/Circle-Announces-Payments-Network-to-Transform-Global-Money-Movement" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launched</a> its payments network to leverage this opportunity and enable real-time settlement using USDC (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/usd-coin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">USDC</a>) across borders.</p>
<p>If stablecoins capture just 30% of cross-border settlement flows, with funds held in transit for 15-30 days on average, the required float alone would be $500 billion to $1 trillion.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="emerging-market-dollarization">Emerging market dollarization</h2>
<p>As Standard Chartered <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/373510/standard-chartered-estimates-1-trillion-could-exit-emerging-market-bank-deposits-for-us-stablecoins" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">projects</a>, up to $1 trillion in bank deposits in emerging markets could migrate to stablecoins within three years. Of the roughly $10 trillion in vulnerable global savings, a 10-15% shift could drive another $1-1.5 trillion in demand.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="corporate-treasury-management">Corporate treasury management</h2>
<p>Global corporate cash holdings <a href="https://www.hec.edu/en/executive-education/news/corporate-cash-boom-what-every-ceo-needs-know" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">surpass</a> $8 trillion. In the U.S. alone, firms manage more than $4 trillion in cash and equivalents. With 2025’s focus on navigating tariffs, rate changes, and geopolitics, efficient treasury tools are essential. A multinational can move stablecoins between subsidiaries in Singapore, São Paulo, and San Francisco in seconds, all without waiting for correspondent banks.&nbsp;</p>
<p>If only 5-10% of global corporate cash migrates to stablecoin rails, that’s $1 trillion to $2 trillion.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="money-market-fund-substitution">Money market fund substitution</h2>
<p>U.S. money market fund assets just hit a record <a href="https://www.ici.org/research/stats/mmf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$7.57 trillion</a>. Globally, the figure approaches $10 trillion. Tokenized money market products offer instant settlement, 24/7 availability, and seamless integration into financial applications. BlackRock’s BUIDL, Ondo Finance’s OUSG, and similar treasury-backed tokens are already bridging this gap, while Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/pressroom/press-releases/2025/bny-goldman-sachs-launch-tokenized-money-market-funds-solution" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launched</a> tokenized money market fund solutions — a clear signal that Wall Street sees on-chain settlement as the future of cash management.</p>
<p>If 20-30% of money market fund capital migrates to on-chain equivalents, that’s $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in stablecoin demand.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="rwa-tokenization-settlement">RWA tokenization settlement</h2>
<p>PwC projects that tokenized fund assets will grow from $90 billion to <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2025/pwc-2025-global-asset-wealth-management-report.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$715 billion</a> by 2030. Industry estimates from McKinsey suggest $2 trillion to <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/from-ripples-to-waves-the-transformational-power-of-tokenizing-assets" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$16 trillion</a> worth of bonds, funds, and securities could be on-chain by the early 2030s.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Every tokenized asset trade requires a settlement currency. If 8-10% of tokenized asset value needs to be held for settlement and liquidity, we’re looking at $2 trillion to $3 trillion.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="crypto-native-demand">Crypto-native demand</h2>
<p>In September 2025, monthly trading volume on perpetual protocols passed <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/373210/perp-dex-monthly-trading-volume-1-trillion-usd-hyperliquid-aster-lighter" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$1 trillion</a> for the first time. Platforms like Hyperliquid operate almost exclusively on stablecoin collateral. As DeFi matures and institutions enter, collateral demand in trading, lending, and liquidity could reach $500 billion to $1 trillion.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="sovereign-and-institutional-reserves">Sovereign and institutional reserves</h2>
<p>Global FX reserves exceed <a href="https://data.imf.org/en/news/imf%20data%20brief%20jul%209" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$12.5 trillion</a>, with roughly $7 trillion in assets. While central banks won’t adopt stablecoins tomorrow, smaller sovereign wealth funds and quasi-governmental entities are exploring allocations.</p>
<p>Even minimal penetration with just one G20 central bank experimenting with stablecoins could be seismic.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="the-math-adds-up">The math adds up</h2>
<p>Adding these estimates yields a forward-looking range of $7 trillion to $10 trillion. This extends beyond Citi’s $4 trillion bull case or Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s $3 trillion projection by 2030, capturing decade‑long compounding effects.</p>
<p>The question then becomes ‘who captures the value of this growth?’ The answer increasingly points to a new category of company purpose-built for this moment.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="every-fortune-500-company-will-be-a-dat">Every Fortune 500 company will be a DAT</h2>
<p>Matt Zhang, former global head of structured products trading at Citi and now running Hivemind Capital, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQ-cp5IDeiY/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">predicts</a> that “in 10 years, every Fortune 500 company will be a DAT somehow”. When a Wall Street veteran with 15 years of institutional trading experience makes that call, it signals where corporate finance is heading, and broadly speaking, we’re moving into Act II.</p>
<p>The Digital Asset Treasury sector has grown from four companies in 2020 to more than <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/datco-report-2025" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">142 today</a>. The first wave was simple — buy Bitcoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/bitcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>), hold, and hope the price goes up. The next generation of DATs puts digital assets to work through staking, DeFi yield strategies, governance participation, and revenue-generating protocols.</p>
<p>This isn’t about memecoins. It’s about digital assets becoming routine treasury tools.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Regulatory clarity has accelerated this. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The GENIUS Act</a> created a federal framework, requiring full reserve backing, monthly disclosures, and regulatory oversight. Following this, we’ve seen BNY Mellon tokenizing funds and Visa and Mastercard enabling stablecoin payments.</p>
<p>For traditional investors constrained to public equities, DAT companies offer a way into these markets. Zhang’s prediction that every Fortune 500 company will be a DAT by 2034 might sound aggressive, but what seemed absurd in 2020 — a software company holding billions in Bitcoin — is now routine.&nbsp;</p>
<p>With banks, payments giants, corporates, and regulators aligned, stablecoins are on track to become the backbone of global finance. The institutions that adapt early will define the next decade.</p>
<p>Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/dont-copy-fiat-stablecoins-can-actually-work-in-latam/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Don’t copy fiat’s bottlenecks: Stablecoins can actually work in LATAM | Opinion </a></p>
<p><strong>Author: Colin Butler</strong></p>
<p><b>Colin Butler</b><span> is EVP, Capital Markets and Head of Global Financing at Mega Matrix Inc. (NYSE American: MPU), a digital asset treasury company focused on a multi-stablecoin governance basket including Ethena, Sky, Hyperliquid, and Aster. The views expressed are his own and do not constitute investment advice.</span></p>

The path to a $10 trillion stablecoin economy is underway | Opinion

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