Author: Weilin, PANews

On May 13, data from defillama showed that the market cap of stablecoins reached $242.821 billion. Among them, Tether's USDT market cap surpassed $150 billion for the first time, reaching $150.663 billion, accounting for 62% of the market cap. Following closely is Circle's USDC, which holds nearly 25% of the stablecoin market share.

In recent months, there have been continuous developments regarding stablecoins in the crypto market. For instance, due to changes in the U.S. regulatory environment, Tether plans to launch a new dollar-backed stablecoin in the U.S. later this year. Circle submitted a public offering registration application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 1, planning to go public.

At the same time, fintech giants like Stripe and PayPal are actively entering the market, alongside financial companies like BlackRock, traditional banks (such as Bank of America and Standard Chartered), and yield-bearing stablecoin projects. These companies are expected to challenge the duopoly of Tether and Circle, bringing more innovation to the stablecoin market and promoting mass adoption. Stablecoins are being used for cross-border payments, DeFi protocols, and on-chain transactions, and are referred to by a16z Crypto as bringing a "WhatsApp moment" to the currency sector.

In this article, PANews has compiled recent developments in stablecoin initiatives from major tech and financial companies, providing a panoramic view of the sector and showcasing their industry impact.

Tech Companies Entering Stablecoin Payments: Stripe, PayPal, Coinbase, etc.

Stripe

On May 7 and 8, Stripe announced the launch of "Stablecoin Financial Accounts," allowing business users to hold account balances in stablecoins across 101 countries. Additionally, they released USDB through Bridge, a programmable stablecoin that developers can embed into their applications and earn rewards by building the USDB ecosystem.

In February 2025, Stripe completed the acquisition of the stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, further promoting the use of stablecoins in global payments. Bridge supports payment processing for stablecoins like USDC, and Visa recently launched a stablecoin-supported payment card through Bridge.

PayPal

On April 23, PayPal announced that starting in 2025, U.S. users holding PYUSD in their PayPal or Venmo balances will earn a 3.7% yield. By offering yields, they incentivize users to buy and hold stablecoins on their platform, while the use of PYUSD outside the platform can also generate more revenue for PayPal. The yield is just the first step, and more measures to boost PYUSD transaction volume and integration may follow.

Coinbase

On May 6, Coinbase launched the x402 payment standard, a stablecoin payment standard designed specifically for internet-native payments, aimed at achieving atomic-level transactions between APIs, applications, and AI agents.

Meta

On May 9, Fortune reported that Meta, three years after abandoning the Libra/Diem project, is in preliminary talks with several crypto companies regarding stablecoin applications, exploring cross-border payments for creators to reduce costs. Since January of this year, former Plaid executive Ginger Baker has been serving as Meta's Vice President of Product, leading related initiatives.

MoneyGram

On May 7, MoneyGram launched "MoneyGram Ramps," a cash deposit and withdrawal channel supporting stablecoins, covering over 170 countries. MoneyGram has a global cash network, providing a new way for stablecoins to interoperate with everyday consumption and spending.

Traditional Payment Giants Strike Back: Mastercard and Visa

On April 28, Mastercard announced partnerships with several exchanges and wallets, including Circle, OKX, and Paxos, to launch broader stablecoin integrations, allowing consumers to spend stablecoin balances via Mastercard cards. Merchants can also directly settle fiat card payments as USDC.

Additionally, as mentioned above, on April 30, Visa announced a partnership with Bridge, supported by Stripe, allowing fintech developers to issue Visa cards linked to stablecoins, enabling users to pay with stablecoin balances at fiat points of sale through the Visa network.

These products significantly lower the barriers for users to adopt stablecoins by integrating with existing payment systems. Users do not need to worry about whether merchants support stablecoin payments; they can simply use their linked Visa or Mastercard to complete transactions.

The Two Giants Circle and Tether Strengthen Their "Moat," Paxos Initiates Stablecoin Alliance

Circle

On April 21, Circle announced partnerships with several global banks and stablecoin startups to launch the Circle Payments Network, aimed at improving international payments. Circle directly challenges SWIFT and traditional banking networks, attempting to replace their inefficient messaging services and payment processes. On April 1, Circle applied for an IPO. The application to list on the New York Stock Exchange marks further recognition of the legitimacy of stablecoin payments.

Tether

As the stablecoin market expands, on May 13, defillama data showed that the market cap of stablecoins reached $242.821 billion. Among them, Tether's USDT market cap surpassed $150 billion for the first time, reaching $150.663 billion, accounting for 62% of the market cap. While USDT continues to grow, other stablecoins are also expanding, causing USDT's market dominance to decline from 70% to 62% over the past year. To maintain growth, USDT has taken bold steps to expand cross-chain capabilities, from implementing the multi-chain token USDT0 supported by LayerZero OFT to building hubs centered around Legacy Hub and Plasma. Through these methods, they are addressing past challenges. Additionally, Tether plans to launch a new dollar-backed stablecoin in the U.S. later this year.

Ondo

On April 18, Ondo Finance announced the launch of its dollar treasury token USDY on the Stellar blockchain. In May, Ondo introduced a cross-chain bridging solution for USDY, enabling seamless transfers between the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Solana ecosystems. This is the first such solution for tokenized RWA, significantly enhancing USDY's interoperability and global accessibility.

On May 12, Ondo Finance announced that USDY would be available on the Latin American platform TruBit, supporting users from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and other countries.

Paxos

Stablecoin issuer Paxos has partnered with Anchorage Digital, Bullish, Galaxy Digital, Kraken, Nuvei, and Robinhood to launch the Global Dollar Network, an open network aimed at accelerating the global use of stablecoins. On April 14, Visa announced it would join the Global Dollar Network stablecoin alliance initiated by Paxos.

On May 12, the stablecoin alliance Global Dollar Network announced the addition of 19 new members, including cryptocurrency exchange BitMart, cryptocurrency custody provider Zodia Custody, wallet provider Arculus, and stablecoin payment companies Beam, FOMO Pay, AlfredPay, and Noah.

World Liberty Financial

World Liberty Financial Inc. (WLFI) is the developer of a DeFi protocol and governance platform inspired by U.S. President Trump. On March 25, the company announced plans to launch the stablecoin USD1, which can be exchanged at a 1:1 ratio for U.S. dollars (USD). The statement indicated that WLFI's USD1 will be 100% backed by U.S. short-term treasury bonds, dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents. Initially, the USD1 token will be minted on the Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchains, with plans to expand to other protocols in the future. Each token is pegged to a value of one dollar.

Ethena

On December 16, 2024, the DeFi project Ethena Labs announced the official launch of its new stablecoin USDtb. As a blockchain-based dollar stablecoin, 90% of USDtb's reserve funds are invested in BlackRock's tokenized fund BUIDL, in collaboration with leading real asset tokenization company Securitize.

As of May 13, defillama data showed that Ethena's synthetic dollar USDe is the third-largest dollar-pegged asset in the crypto market, with a supply scale second only to USDT and USDC, and a market cap of $4.745 billion. On April 12, Ethena Labs launched the USDe reserve proof, which will be updated weekly. As of the April 26 snapshot, the supply of USDe tokens was 4.765 billion, with $44.695 million available in Ethena's mint/redeem contracts to meet redemption demands, and $60.95 million in the reserve fund, with Copper's custody assets amounting to approximately $663 million.

On April 17, Ethena announced plans to launch a blockchain focused on real-world assets (RWA) called Converge in the second quarter of this year, built on Arbitrum and Celestia, supporting USDe and USDtb token payments for gas fees, and maintaining security through staking ENA.

On May 1, Ethena Labs announced a partnership with the TON blockchain to integrate its USDe product into Telegram, reaching its billion users. The collaboration includes integration with non-custodial TON wallets, Telegram's custodial wallets, and TON DeFi applications.

On May 5, Ethena Labs also announced that USDe has been launched on Hyperliquid and HyperEVM.

Traditional Banks Enter the Stablecoin Issuance: Bank of America, Standard Chartered

Bank of America

On May 3, Bank of America stated that it is willing to issue its own stablecoin if Congress enacts relevant legislation. Bank of America is the second-largest lending institution in the U.S., and its CEO Brian Moynihan has previously stated, "As long as legislation allows, we will enter the stablecoin business."

Standard Chartered

On February 17, Standard Chartered (Hong Kong), Animoca Brands, and HKT announced that they have reached an agreement to establish a joint venture (JV) and plan to apply for a license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to issue a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin.

Related Articles:

“APY Up to 9%, A Review of 20 Yield-bearing Stablecoins”

“a16z Partner: How Stablecoins Can Disrupt Cross-border Payments?”

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