Citi Forecasts Stablecoin Issuance Could Surge to $4 Trillion by 2030
Wall Street giant drops bombshell prediction that'll make traditional bankers sweat.
The Digital Dollar Disruption
Stablecoins aren't just surviving—they're positioning to dominate global finance. Citi's analysis suggests these crypto-anchored assets could capture trillions in market value within six years, rewriting the rules of cross-border payments and settlement.
Bypassing Banking Bottlenecks
While legacy institutions fiddle with paperwork, stablecoins cut through red tape with 24/7 settlement and near-instant transfers. The $4 trillion projection reflects growing institutional adoption—not just crypto-native players but traditional finance finally acknowledging the efficiency play.
Regulatory Reality Check
Of course, banking regulators will likely drag their feet until the last possible moment—because nothing says 'financial innovation' like waiting until a market hits critical mass before developing frameworks. The race between adoption and regulation just got a whole lot more interesting.
Either way, the genie's out of the bottle. Traditional finance can either adapt or watch $4 trillion flow through channels they don't control.
Citi questions stablecoins as firms prefer tokenized deposits
Despite the surge in adoption, Citi is still cautious. Ronit and Ryan made it clear that stablecoins aren’t the magic solution for everything. They noted that payments inside most countries already happen in real time and at a low cost, especially in places with advanced fintech systems.
The real issue still lies with cross-border payments, which are slow and expensive. That’s where stablecoins could help. But even there, fintech apps and banks have already started cutting costs and speeding things up.
“It is not a digital format war that we foresee,” the analysts said. “But a continued progress towards smarter, faster finance.” The bank also said most companies are still hesitant. In their words, most firms remain “curious rather than enthusiastic” about using stablecoins in real operations.
Instead, a lot of them prefer bank tokens, also known as tokenized deposits, digital versions of regular bank money that come with regulation. Citi said these might actually handle more transactions than stablecoins by 2030.
Crypto sell-off hits stablecoin firms and bitcoin-linked stocks
While forecasts around stablecoins are growing, the overall crypto market isn’t having a great week. Major coins dropped across the board. Bitcoin slid under $112,000 on Thursday, dropping 2%. Ethereum went down 5% to below $4,000, hitting its lowest price since August.
Other coins like solana saw even steeper declines. All this came after more than $1.6 billion in long positions were liquidated earlier in the week. CoinGlass data showed $511 million in liquidations in the last 24 hours alone.
That wasn’t the only thing spooking crypto investors. U.S. stock markets are down too. A lot of investors are pulling back over concerns that AI HYPE pushed prices too far, and that the Federal Reserve might not cut interest rates anytime soon.
September is usually a shaky month for crypto, and this one’s no different. Another issue is the Treasury General Account. The U.S. government has been refilling it by selling T-bills and bonds, which sucks cash out of the market and hurts demand for riskier assets like crypto.
Crypto-related stocks were dragged down too. Robinhood and Coinbase each fell more than 1% on Thursday. MicroStrategy, which holds a large amount of Bitcoin, also took a hit. So did Circle, the firm behind one of the top stablecoins.
U.S. and international regulators are debating new rules for how stablecoins should be issued and monitored. And big names like PayPal have already added more stablecoin offerings, while retailers like Walmart and Amazon are exploring building their own.
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