Stablecoins Poised to Play Key Role in Global Financial System

The use of stablecoins is becoming more widespread as they are increasingly being used in fintech products and crypto-native payment tools. This trend is expected to continue in 2026, with a focus on figuring out which parties will drive adoption and what role stablecoins will play in the global financial system.

According to Michael Egorov, founder of Curve Finance, banks are not the primary drivers of stablecoin adoption. Instead, usage is growing from the outside, through fintech products and crypto-native payment tools. This is because stablecoins have grown too large to ignore, with a total market cap exceeding $300B by the end of 2025.

The stablecoin ecosystem is also taking on two complementary aspects: redeemable stablecoins for payments and transfers, and fully decentralized stablecoins for on-chain finance. Both models have value and are crucial in their own way, making the system operational in practice.