Card Networks Face Stablecoin Disintermediation
An industry analysis questions the future interplay between card networks and stablecoins, highlighting a mutual dependency. The analysis suggests networks risk being disintermediated if they fail to adapt to stablecoin-centric platforms. Conversely, stablecoin issuers still require the scale, compliance infrastructure, and merchant acceptance that card networks provide.
Major regulatory frameworks are now providing clarity for stablecoins, a critical step for institutional adoption. In the U.S., the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, passed in July 2025, created the first federal oversight for stablecoins. This follows the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which went into full effect across all 27 member states in 2025. Both frameworks emphasize 1:1 reserve requirements to ensure stability. Stablecoin transaction volumes are surging, indicating a shift from speculative trading to real-world utility. Total circulation passed $300 billion in 2025, with Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) commanding over 94% of the market. True payment volume reached approximately $390 billion in 2025, more than doubling from the previous year, with B2B payments accounting for about 60% of that total. In response, both Visa and Mastercard are aggressively integrating stablecoins to leverage their vast networks for digital currency payments. Visa has expanded its use of USDC for treasury operations and cross-border settlement, while Mastercard now supports stablecoin-based cross-border transfers through its Mastercard Move platform. Both companies are actively partnering with fintechs and issuers to roll out stablecoin-linked cards, allowing users to spend digital assets at millions of merchant locations worldwide. This evolution runs parallel to the rapid growth of domestic real-time payment systems. The FedNow service, launched in July 2023, saw its total transaction value hit $853.4 billion in 2025. The more established RTP network from The Clearing House processed over $1.3 trillion in 2025 and has a higher transaction limit of $10 million compared to FedNow's $1 million. The rise of stablecoin payments introduces new fraud vectors, prompting an evolution in security measures. Financial institutions are increasingly leveraging AI and machine learning to detect sophisticated fraud schemes in real-time by analyzing transaction patterns on the blockchain. Concurrently, blockchain-based digital identity solutions, using decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials (VCs), are being developed to streamline KYC compliance and reduce identity fraud.
