Big stablecoin forecasts resurface

Stablecoins are back at the center of the payments debate after Stanley Druckenmiller said they could dominate global payments within 10 to 15 years. (finance.yahoo.com) A stablecoin is a digital token designed to hold a steady price, usually by tracking the United States dollar and holding reserve assets behind it. Druckenmiller told Yahoo Finance the technology is “efficient, quicker, cheaper” than parts of the current system. (finance.yahoo.com) A separate report cited by Spanish outlet Criptoinforme said annual stablecoin payment volume could reach $1.5 quadrillion by 2035. The same coverage said the forecast came from Chainalysis and paired that upside case with a lower $719 trillion base case. (criptoinforme.com) (coindesk.com) The argument has resurfaced as large payment companies and regulators are no longer treating stablecoins as a fringe crypto product. Stripe completed its $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge on February 4, 2025, to expand stablecoin-based money movement for businesses. (stripe.com) Visa has also been building around the same idea rather than ignoring it. Visa said in its 2025 annual report that stablecoin settlement volume had passed a $2.5 billion annualized run rate by September 30, 2025, and that it had launched a stablecoin prefunding pilot for banks and remitters. (stocklight.com) The scale of the market underneath those forecasts is already large. Visa’s onchain analytics dashboard tracks stablecoin transactions on public blockchains, and industry coverage this week said Chainalysis estimated stablecoins moved more than $35 trillion in 2025. (visaonchainanalytics.com) (coindesk.com) Most of that market still runs through two dollar tokens. Tether said its fourth-quarter 2025 attestation showed more than $141 billion of exposure to United States Treasuries, while Circle says USDC reserve holdings are disclosed weekly and checked by a monthly third-party assurance process. (tether.io) (circle.com) The case against these projections has not gone away. In its 2025 annual report, the Bank for International Settlements said stablecoins “perform poorly” against the tests it uses for the monetary system and warned about integrity, elasticity and singleness of money. (bis.org) Federal Reserve staff made a similar point on April 8, 2026, writing that wider payment use could deepen links between stablecoins and the traditional financial system and create new financial-stability risks. Richmond Federal Reserve researchers also said the new United States stablecoin law leaves major implementation details to regulators. (federalreserve.gov) (richmondfed.org) That leaves the current fight in plain terms: stablecoin backers say blockchains can move dollars faster and cheaper, while central-bank officials say private tokens still fall short of public-money standards. The forecasts are large, but the real test is whether merchants, banks and regulators let these tokens become everyday payment rails. (finance.yahoo.com) (bis.org)