- Stablecoins are expected to attract developer interest soon, similar to the iPhone’s impact on mobile technology.
- Walmart and Amazon eye stablecoin adoption, highlighting the technology’s growing mainstream appeal.
- The $33 trillion transaction volume of stablecoins surpasses PayPal, indicating their growing role in digital payments.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has also forecasted that stablecoins will be as highly adopted in terms of developer activity as the iPhone has been in the past. His optimism was utilized in a recent post where he stated that developers should soon discover the unexplored potential of stablecoins, as mobile devices have done in the technology sector. He supposes that programmable digital dollars will soon be understood as a critical innovation tool.
The remarks by Allaire were in reply to Sam Broner, a partner at a16z Crypto, who raised the issue of competitive benefits that stablecoins possess for the fintech industry. Broner claimed that stablecoins reduce the cost of developing financial technology, which makes constructing and innovating in the sector simpler. Stablecoins also promote competition in the market with reduced barriers, and better prices and services are available to consumers.
Source: X
Stablecoins Gaining Mainstream Traction
The successful debut of Circle on the New York Stock Exchange has given even more credence to the stablecoin market. Circle experienced a sharp rise in its stock value by almost 167% after its listing on the market on June 5. This remarkable result has ensured that Circle remains a significant force in the stablecoin world, further boosting investor beliefs in the technology.
The increasing popularity of stablecoins has attracted the attention of large retailers. It is also reported that both Walmart and Amazon are looking to issue their dollar-backed stablecoins. The possibility of these retail giants adopting stablecoins is further evidence of how the technology has become popular in the mainstream and how it will transform payments.
Moreover, international e-commerce company Shopify has announced its integration of the US government-backed stablecoin USDC, created by Circle, as a payment option by the end of 2025. Through this integration, Shopify merchants and customers will have a different payment method that is blockchain-based, making stablecoins a recognized asset that everyone can use as a means of payment.
Digital Payments Evolution
A16z cryptocurrency data scientist Daren Matsuoka views stablecoins as a gateway to mainstream cryptocurrency adoption. He mentioned that stablecoins have exchanged pounds 33 trillion of transactions within the past year, much more than PayPal’s transaction volume. The stablecoins are fast emerging as a major participant in the digital payments system, and volumes are catching up with ACH and Visa.
Source: X
Nevertheless, its competitor Circle has taken a different strategy, despite its progress. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, has recently shared that the company is not interested in going public, as opposed to Circle, which intends to become publicly traded. This difference underscores the varying directions that most stablecoin issuers are pursuing to define the future of digital currency.
As big retailers and businesses adopt stablecoins, it is becoming apparent that they could potentially transform the global economy. In the coming years, stablecoins may become as common as smartphones and transform how the world transacts in financial terms.
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