Will Stablecoins Deliver?

Scott Hamilton has written a useful summary in Finextra of the possible impact of stablecoins on transactions, particularly cross-border ¹. While adoption is rising fast, the future is not yet secure.

Stablecoins are already starting to lower costs, increase transaction speeds, and allow 24/7 settlement for larger retail banks and corporate financial institutions. Although the scale remains very small, a different future is visible.

Stablecoins still need to demonstrate that they can deliver logical, consistent, secure, and easily replicated processes for frequent transactions and repeat buyers at scale for prolonged periods. Any process that requires multiple steps is complex.

As of the end of 2024, stablecoins drove more transfers annually ($18.4 billion) than Visa or Mastercard. A recent EY/ Parthenon survey of 250 corporates and 100 financial institutions on stablecoin adoption within financial services said: ‘41% of organisations that have used stablecoins reported cost savings of 10%+, primarily driven by efficiencies in cross-border payments.’