The Stablecoin Moment: How USDC is Becoming the Internet's Native Currency

Stablecoins is web3's first real product-market fit success story.

The success uniquely isn’t just coming out of a bunch of crypto traders using stablecoins. Businesses running global payroll or wanting to slash wire transfer costs, governments exploring digital currencies, and individuals sending money across borders without banks taking a cut — stablecoins are solving real problems.

This blog will break down what's actually happening with stablecoins, the market, and the infrastructure while making the case for its universal adoption.

Why Everyone's Talking About Stablecoins

Stablecoins, unlike most of other crypto/web3 products and solutions, isn't just ideology-driven. They truly remove friction that costs everyone time and money. 

The numbers tell a story: $200 billion in stablecoin market cap, $4+ trillion in transaction volume. But, stablecoins’ victory is in how people actually use them.

For individuals

1. Traditional remittance services charge $30 to send $500 to the Philippines. USDC costs under $1 and arrives instantly. 
2. A freelance developer in Argentina gets paid in USDC and sidesteps nearly 60% inflation.

For businesses

1. Cross-border payments that usually would take 3-5 days through banks now settle in minutes with stablecoins.
2. A startup paying remote employees in ten countries no longer needs to juggle currency conversions, delayed wire transfers, or high fees.

Platforms like Stripe and Shopify already support stablecoin payouts.

For governments and nations

1. Many governments are exploring CBDCs which imitate the design of stablecoins — such as real-time settlement, digital wallets, and transparency.
2. Governments can employ stablecoins for automated tax rebates, distributing disaster relief, or even delivering universal basic income with full traceability. 

The pattern is clear: stablecoins can solve practical problems that traditional finance struggles with. 

Speed, cost efficiency, and global accessibility without the volatility that makes other cryptocurrencies impractical for everyday use. As we mentioned, product-market fit.

Outside all these practical utilities, stablecoins are also growing multifold courtesy of projects and protocols embedding yield-bearing mechanisms in them.

Yield-bearing stablecoins

Protocols like MakerDAO and Ethena are issuing yield-bearing stablecoins that generate passive income by tapping into sources like U.S. Treasuries, onchain liquidity provision, or delta-neutral strategies. 

Today, there are 50+ yield bearing stablecoins in the market. 

1. For individuals, this means you can hold a dollar-denominated asset and earn 4–10% APY without touching traditional finance
2. For businesses, it opens up efficient treasury management: idle stablecoin reserves can now generate yield onchain transparently.

Altogether, stablecoins are building the early foundation of an onchain money market — one where your “digital dollar” can be both liquid and productive.

Stablecoins in 2025: What Do The Numbers Say

The numbers behind stablecoin adoption tell a story that's impossible to ignore:

Who’s Using Stablecoins (and How Fast That’s Growing)

An estimated 161 million people hold stablecoins. It is more than the population of the 10 largest cities combined.

• 18% of SMBs now use stablecoins (up from 8% in 2024)
• 36% of SMBs received requests to transact in stablecoins from customers, employees, or vendors
• 81% of SMBs express interest in using them vs 61% a year ago

Among Fortune 500 companies:

• 7% currently use or hold stablecoins
• 29% are exploring or planning to adopt them; a 3.6x jump from 2024
• 67% believe stablecoins enable faster, cheaper customer payments

Real Payment Volumes: How are Stablecoins Being Used

According to Artemis data, stablecoin payment flows span a wide range of use cases and surprisingly crypto or retail usage isn’t the leading contributor. 

Current annualized volumes include:

• B2B payments lead the way, with a $36B annualized volume
• P2P (peer-to-peer): $18B run rate
• Card-linked payments: $13.2B
• B2C (business-to-consumer): $3.3B
• Pre-funding activity: $2.5B

Market Share: USDT vs USDC

• USDT: $158.9B in supply (64.9% of total stablecoins)
• USDC: $57.8B in supply (23.6%)

While USDT still leads in raw volume, USDC is dominating in institutional trust, traditional finance partnerships, compliance, and enterprise adoption.

Cherry on the top: Today, the total stablecoin supply now represents nearly 10% of all U.S. currency in circulation.

Data sources: 

1. Stablecoin Payments from the Ground Up
2. Artemis Terminal
3. State of Crypto Q2 2025 by Coinbase

These metrics point to a steady adoption and growth of stablecoins in the broader financial economy. More importantly, the use cases are diversifying, right from retail P2P usage in the cryptocurrency space to B2B settlements and transactions, which is a healthy sign.

Stablecoins: The Product and the Promise 

The clearest unlock for stablecoins isn’t just better crypto infrastructure, it’s the bridge they form between traditional finance and web3. When stablecoins plug into the systems people and businesses already use, they stop being ‘crypto’ and start being money that works better.

At its core, every stablecoin makes the same fundamental commitment: perfect dollar parity with instant redemption. 

But delivering on that promise requires a lot more than just good intentions. It demands, 

• Rigorous asset management, 
• Transparent reserves, 
• Operational reliability, 
• Deep liquidity pools, 
• Institutional custody partnerships, 
• Robust developer tools, and crucially
• Regulatory compliance.

This is where Circle and USDC have carved out their competitive advantage.

While other stablecoin issuers focused on trading volume or decentralized ideology, Circle built USDC as infrastructure that traditional finance could trust. 

How USDC is Becoming the Internet’s Native Currency

While other stablecoin issuers focused on trading volume or decentralized ideology, Circle built USDC as infrastructure that everyone could trust. 

Here’s how this strategy looks in action:

Strategic Retail Partnerships 

USDC is integrated into the systems people and businesses already use:

• Visa uses it to settle cross-border transactions on Ethereum and Solana
• Shopify merchants can accept USDC onchain at checkout
• Stripe pays global freelancers and vendors in USDC
• BlackRock uses it as the base layer for tokenized fund settlements
• In Southeast Asia, Grab and Rise integrate USDC into real-world consumer apps

Compliance-First Approach

USDC was built with regulatory alignment at the core:

• Fully backed by short-dated U.S. Treasuries and cash
• Monthly attestations and disclosures ensure transparency
• Circle holds money transmitter licenses across key jurisdictions

This is why banks, asset managers, and payment networks are more comfortable building with USDC.

Remember: A Fortune 500 CFO won't risk regulatory violations to save on transaction fees.

Circle and USDC in their pursuit of ‘being money that just works better’ are playing long-term games on all sides. If the above measures reflect their promise to meeting traditional finance standards, their moves in the crypto space too are about trust and user experience.

Cross-Chain Infrastructure

USDC lives on multiple chains: Ethereum, Solana, Base, Avalanche, and others through CCTP (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol). It enables native USDC to move across blockchains without wrapping or relying on external bridges. 

This matters for developers building seamless user experiences and for users who expect their digital dollars to work no matter where they are onchain.

All the above steps reflect the same thing: Circle and USDC are laying the groundwork for what a truly internet-native currency looks like: dollar-backed, always redeemable, and universally usable across both traditional and cryptocurrency financial systems.

Looking Forward: What Next for Stablecoins

Stablecoins is shifting how money moves and promises a financial system that is universal and operates at internet speed. Effectively, stablecoins is the catalyst in pushing traditional finance and cryptocurrencies to work together. To support this, regulatory clarity, technical maturity, and growing trust are slowly coming to life too.

The future of finance is universal, no walls, low-to-nill intermediaries, and accessible to everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What's the difference between stablecoins and CBDCs?

Stablecoins are issued by private companies, while CBDCs are digital currencies issued directly by central banks and governments.

2. Can stablecoins lose their dollar peg?

Yes, if reserves are mismanaged or liquidity dries up. This is why regulatory compliance and transparent backing matter.

3. Are stablecoin transactions taxable?

Tax treatment varies by jurisdiction. Most countries treat stablecoin transactions as taxable events, similar to foreign currency exchanges.

4. What happens if a stablecoin issuer goes bankrupt?

With proper backing, reserves should be segregated and redeemable. However, regulatory frameworks and reserve structures vary significantly.

5. How do yield-bearing stablecoins generate returns?

They invest backing reserves in treasury bills, provide DeFi liquidity, or use delta-neutral trading strategies to generate yield.