On May 13, defillama data showed that the stablecoin market capitalization reached $242.821 billion. Among them, Tether's USDT market cap first broke through $150 billion, reaching $150.663 billion, accounting for 62% of the market. Following closely is Circle's USDC, which occupies nearly 25% of the stablecoin market share. In recent months, there have been continuous dynamics in the stablecoin market on the crypto market, such as changes in the US regulatory environment. Tether plans to launch a new US dollar-backed stablecoin in the United States later this year. Circle submitted a public offering registration application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 1, planning to go public.

Meanwhile, financial technology giants like Stripe and PayPal are actively entering the market, along with financial companies like BlackRock, traditional banks (such as Bank of America and Standard Chartered Bank), and yield-generating stablecoin projects. These companies are expected to challenge the duopoly of Tether and Circle, bringing more innovation to the stablecoin market and promoting mass adoption. Stablecoins are being used for cross-border payments, DeFi protocols, and on-chain transactions, and a16z Crypto has described them as the "WhatsApp moment" in the monetary domain. In this article, PANews has compiled the recent stablecoin development dynamics of major technology and financial companies, providing a panoramic observation of the track and demonstrating their industry impact.

Tech Companies Seizing Stablecoin Payment: Stripe, PayPal, Coinbase, etc.

Stripe

On May 7 and 8, Stripe announced the launch of "Stablecoin Financial Accounts", allowing business users to hold account balances in stablecoins in 101 countries. Additionally, they released USDB through Bridge, a programmable stablecoin that developers can embed into their applications and earn rewards by building the USDB ecosystem.

Stripe completed the acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge for $1.1 billion in February 2025, further promoting the application of stablecoins in global payments. Bridge supports payment processing for stablecoins like USDC, and Visa recently launched a stablecoin-supported payment card through Bridge.

PayPal

On April 23, PayPal announced that from 2025, US users holding PYUSD in their PayPal or Venmo balance will earn a 3.7% yield rate. By offering a yield rate, they incentivize users to buy and hold stablecoins on their platform, while PYUSD usage outside the platform can also bring more revenue to PayPal. The yield rate is just the first step, and there may be more measures to promote PYUSD transaction volume and integration in the future.

Coinbase

On May 6, Coinbase launched the x 402 payment standard, a stablecoin payment standard designed for internet-native payments, aimed at achieving atomic-level transactions between APIs, applications, and AI agents.

Meta

On May 9, according to Fortune, three years after abandoning the Libra/Diem project, Meta is in preliminary talks with multiple crypto companies about stablecoin applications, exploring cross-border payments for creators to reduce fees. Since January this year, former Plaid executive Ginger Baker has been serving as Meta's product vice president, leading the related advancement.

MoneyGram

On May 7, MoneyGram released "MoneyGram Ramps", a stablecoin cash deposit and withdrawal channel covering over 170 countries. With its global cash network, MoneyGram provides a new way for stablecoins to interoperate with daily consumption and expenses.

Traditional Payment Giants' Counterattack: Mastercard and Visa

On April 28, Mastercard announced collaboration with multiple trading platforms and wallets like Circle, OKX, and Paxos to launch broader stablecoin integration, allowing consumers to spend stablecoin balances through Mastercard cards. Merchants can also directly settle fiat card payments to USDC.

As mentioned earlier, on April 30, Visa announced collaboration with Bridge (supported by Stripe), allowing fintech developers to issue Visa cards linked to stablecoins, enabling users to pay with stablecoin balances at fiat point of sale through the Visa network. These products significantly lower the user adoption threshold for stablecoins by integrating with existing payment systems. Users don't need to worry about merchant stablecoin payment support, they can complete payment by using a bound Visa or Mastercard.

Two Giants Circle and Tether Consolidate "Moat", Paxos Initiates Stablecoin Alliance

Circle

On April 21, Circle announced collaboration with multiple global banks and stablecoin startups to launch the Circle Payments Network to improve international payments. Circle directly challenges SWIFT and traditional bank networks, attempting to replace their inefficient messaging services and payment processes. On April 1, Circle applied for listing. The submission of a listing application on the New York Stock Exchange platform further validates the legitimacy of stablecoin payments.

Tether

With the expansion of the stablecoin market, on May 13, defillama data showed that the stablecoin market capitalization was $242.821 billion. Tether's USDT market cap first broke through $150 billion, reaching $150.663 billion, accounting for 62% of the market. Although USDT continues to grow, other stablecoins are also expanding, causing USDT's market dominance to drop from 70% to 62% over the past year. To maintain growth, USDT has adopted bold methods to expand cross-chain capabilities, from implementing multi-chain token USDT 0 supported by LayerZero OFT to building hubs centered on Legacy Hub and Plasma. Through these methods, they are addressing past challenges. Additionally, Tether plans to launch a new US dollar-backed stablecoin in the United States later this year.

On April 17, Ethena and the asset tokenization platform Securitize announced plans to launch Converge, a blockchain focused on real-world assets (RWA), in the second quarter of this year. The mainnet will be built on Arbitrum and Celestia, supporting USDe and USDtb token gas payments, and maintained through ENA staking. On May 1, Ethena Labs announced a partnership with the TON blockchain to integrate its USDe product into Telegram, covering its billion users. The collaboration includes integration with non-custodial TON wallets, custodial wallets within Telegram, and TON DeFi applications. On May 5, Ethena Labs also announced that USDe has been launched on Hyperliquid and HyperEVM.

Traditional Banks Entering Stablecoin Issuance: Bank of America, Standard Chartered

Bank of America

On May 3, Bank of America stated that it would be willing to issue its own stablecoin if Congress passes relevant legislation. As the second-largest lending institution in the United States, its CEO Brian Moynihan had previously stated: "As long as legislation allows, we will enter the stablecoin business."

Standard Chartered

On February 17, Standard Chartered (Hong Kong), Animoca Brands, and HKT announced that they have reached an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) and plan to apply to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for a license to issue a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin.