Original Title: The Future Of Stablecoins

Source: Artemis
Translated by: DePINone Labs

Publication Date: May 29, 2025

Editor’s Note: At this critical juncture where the crypto market transitions from "concept" to "practical application," stablecoins are becoming a vital link bridging the on-chain and off-chain financial worlds. Artemis' report, The Future of Stablecoins, systematically reviews the evolution, current applications, and future outlook of stablecoins, offering profound insights. The report highlights crucial shifts within the stablecoin ecosystem: from issuance-focused early stages to today's emphasis on distribution and real-world usage.

· Usage Over Supply for Stablecoins: The report emphasizes that understanding the real-world use cases of stablecoins is more important than merely tracking their total supply. Stablecoins have evolved from being solely transactional tools to serving a wide array of purposes, including payments, savings, cross-border remittances, and collateral in DeFi.

· Power Shift from Issuers to Distributors: As the barriers to stablecoin issuance lower, distributors (such as wallets, trading platforms, and fintech platforms) are emerging as the dominant forces capturing value. These entities not only integrate stablecoins but also build market influence by shaping user relationships and experiences.

· Emergence of New Infrastructure: To cater to diverse use cases, new infrastructure is being developed to support programmability, compliance, and value sharing. Stablecoins are no longer just static digital assets but are now dynamic financial primitives designed to adapt to varied scenarios.

· Data Insights: The report provides an in-depth data analysis, revealing that stablecoin supply and trading volume are primarily concentrated in centralized exchanges (CEX), DeFi protocols, and maximum extractable value (MEV) infrastructure. Unattributed wallets also hold a significant share, representing the growth potential among grassroots users and emerging use cases.

The following is the original text of the research report:

Executive Summary

Whether stablecoins will reshape global finance is no longer the question—it’s how they will reshape it. In the early days, stablecoin growth was measured by the total supply. The key challenge was trust: Which issuers are credible, compliant, and scalable? That question has now been answered. Today’s leading issuers have demonstrated operational resilience, and new entrants are entering the market equipped with institutional backing and regulatory readiness.

As issuance becomes commoditized, power is shifting from minting to distribution. The era of staggering profits at the issuer level is numbered—distributors are beginning to recognize their influence and claim their fair share of value. In light of this shift, understanding which applications, protocols, and platforms are driving real growth becomes increasingly crucial. Are stablecoins enabling genuine payments? Cross-border capital flows? Institutional finance?

In the intensely competitive stablecoin landscape, distributors must capture the value they generate in order to survive. Every digital bank, wallet, or fintech company moving stablecoins is generating revenue—the only question is who retains it. Builders who recognize this are moving from default options to offering programmability, embedded financial rails, and modular infrastructure solutions.

Just as early innovation was defined by reserve quality and protocol security, the next era will be defined by product design and distribution strategies. Those doing the right things will shape the future of finance.

About This Report

This report aims to redefine our understanding of stablecoin growth—from issuance to implementation. It is the first in a series of reports examining the evolving landscape of stablecoin use cases, mapping the distribution of key applications, and estimating reserve-based revenue across primary categories. By analyzing changes in usage patterns over time, we uncover the evolution of use cases—and where value is truly being created. While the data in this report highlights many of the largest participants, attribution limitations mean not all entities are captured. Our goal is to support more informed conversations, development, and investment, covering both emerging and established use cases.

Industry Insights

· We are undergoing a massive transition—a shift in perspective, where stablecoins are no longer seen as "cryptocurrency" but as "global infrastructure"; a shift in utility, where financial builders are actively redesigning their products to leverage these new rails. The arena is changing; get ready. —Ran Goldi, SVP Payments & Network, Fireblocks

· Stablecoin growth has reached an escape velocity, and regulatory clarity is opening doors for institutions. The next frontier isn’t just about who has scale today—it’s about the business models of all participants in the stablecoin supply chain, from issuers to distributors to holders. Over the next 12–24 months, we will undoubtedly see shifts in the value chain and value accumulation, along with challengers. —Martin Carrica, VP Stablecoins, Anchorage Digital

· Stablecoins are the first primitives of the new financial stack. Everything we know about finance is being rebuilt on top of stablecoins. And the winners? They will control distribution. —Simon Taylor, Head of Strategy and Content at Sardine

· Stablecoins have gone from experimental to essential in just a few years, with undeniable product-market fit. But we now enter a new era where issuance and liquidity alone are no longer enough to drive sustained growth. The next phase of stablecoin adoption will involve new factors, including sharing economic benefits with partners, seamless on-chain and off-chain integration, and the extent to which programmability features are leveraged. —Jelena Djuric, Co-founder and CEO of Noble

· Stablecoins have proven to be highly lucrative, whether through Tether's supernormal earnings, Stripe's Bridge acquisition, or $10 trillion in annual settlement volumes. Today, they are cementing their place as the foundation of global financial infrastructure. —Stefan Cohen, Partner at Bain Capital Crypto

Table of Contents

1. The Stablecoin Landscape

2. From Minting to Market

3. Use Case Analysis

· Total Market

· Centralized Exchanges (CEXs)

· Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

· Maximum Extractable Value (MEV)

· Unattributed Wallets

4. Conclusion

Stablecoin Overview

Beyond Market Cap

Stablecoins have become one of the most widely adopted products in the cryptocurrency space. With a supply exceeding $240 billion and annual on-chain transaction volumes surpassing $7 trillion, they rival traditional payment networks in scale. However, these numbers tell an incomplete story. Supply reflects the amount of stablecoins in existence, not their actual usage, flows, or utility. Meanwhile, transaction volumes reflect a mixture of on-chain human activity and bot-driven operations, failing to capture off-chain data.

Usage is the New Metric

Not all stablecoins in circulation are utilized equally. Some remain dormant. Others are critical drivers of real economic activity across platforms, users, and regions. As observed in "The State of Stablecoins 2025," stark differences exist between ecosystems. Stablecoins on Ethereum tend to be used as DeFi collateral and for trading liquidity, while those on Tron are more frequently employed for remittances and payments in emerging markets. USDC is prominent in institutional flows, whereas USDT thrives due to its widespread availability and accessibility.

These usage patterns not only reflect the direction of value flows; they also present opportunities for builders to target underserved or high-growth niche markets. Understanding where stablecoins are being deployed and the functions they are enabling is now the clearest signal for assessing the authenticity of adoption and predicting where the next wave of innovation will emerge.

From Institutional Issuance to Market Distribution

The Historical Value of Issuers

In the early era of stablecoins, value capture was concentrated on the issuers. Maintaining a 1:1 peg at scale was a challenge that very few could handle effectively. Tether and Circle dominated not just because they were early movers but also because they were among the few capable of consistently managing issuance and redemption, reserve management, banking integrations, and surviving market pressures.

Monetization was achieved through reserve yields (primarily from short-term U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents), where even modest interest rates translated into substantial revenue. Early successes compounded: exchanges, wallets, and DeFi protocols built around USDT and USDC reinforced the network effects of distribution and liquidity.

Distribution as the Value Layer

Credible custody, liquidity, and redemption are no longer differentiators—they are expectations. As more issuers enter the market with similar capabilities, the importance of the issuer itself diminishes. What matters is what users can do with stablecoins. As a result, power is shifting from issuers to distributors. Wallets, exchanges, and applications integrating stablecoins into real-world use cases now hold influence and leverage. They own the user relationship, shape the experience, and increasingly determine which stablecoins gain traction.

And they are monetizing this position. Circle’s recent IPO filings revealed it paid nearly $900 million in 2023—more than half its total revenue—to partners like Coinbase for integrating and promoting USDC. The current scenario is one where issuers pay distributors, not the other way around.

Many distributors are moving further upstream. PayPal has launched PYUSD. Telegram is collaborating with Ethena. Meta is once again exploring stablecoin rails. Fintech platforms like Stripe, Robinhood, and Revolut are embedding stablecoins directly into payment, savings, and trading functionalities. Issuers are not standing idle, either. Tether is building wallets and payment rails. Circle is expanding through payment APIs, developer tools, and infrastructure acquisitions. But the dynamic is clear: distribution is now the strategic high ground.

Built for Programmability and Precision

As stablecoin adoption expands, new infrastructure is emerging—designed for programmability, compliance, and value sharing. Issuance alone is no longer sufficient to stay competitive. Stablecoins must adapt to the platform demands driving their usage. Next-generation stablecoins incorporate programmable features such as hooks, compliance rules, and conditional transfers. These features enable stablecoins to act as application-aware assets, automatically routing value to merchants, developers, liquidity providers, or counterparties without requiring off-chain protocols.

Each use case carries a unique context. Remittances emphasize speed and conversion, DeFi demands composability and collateral flexibility, and fintech integrations require compliance and auditability. Emerging infrastructure stacks are designed to serve these diverse needs, enabling the stablecoin layer to dynamically adapt to its context rather than offering a one-size-fits-all approach. Crucially, this shift in infrastructure allows for more precise value capture. Programmable flows mean value can be shared across the stack—not just hoarded by issuers. Stablecoins are evolving into dynamic financial primitives, shaped and motivated by the ecosystems they traverse.

Focusing on Use Cases

As stablecoin value capture shifts downstream, distributors are defining their practical utility. Wallets, trading platforms, fintech applications, payment platforms, and DeFi protocols determine which stablecoins users encounter, how they interact with them, and where utility is created. These platforms shape the user experience and control the demand side of the stablecoin economy. Analyzing the real-world usage of stablecoins in areas such as payments, savings, trading, DeFi, and remittances can reveal who is creating value, where friction points exist, and which distribution channels are effective. By tracking the flow of stablecoins within wallets and platforms, we can gain deeper insights into the infrastructure and incentives influencing their adoption.

Use Case Analysis

This report focuses on stablecoin use cases derived from on-chain activities of attributed wallets—addresses identified as belonging to specific entities such as centralized exchanges, DeFi protocols, or institutional participants. Among these known entities (also referred to as “tagged” or “labeled” participants), stablecoin usage is currently concentrated in three main environments:

1. Centralized Exchanges

2. DeFi Protocols

3. MEV Infrastructure

The table below shows the supply and transaction volume shares across these categories for April 2025:

These three categories collectively account for 38% of the total stablecoin supply and 63% of the total stablecoin trading volume. Unlabeled addresses make up the majority of the remaining supply and trading volume. These are wallets not directly linked to known organizations, exchanges, or smart contracts. We'll explore the trends in unlabeled addresses later in this report. To estimate revenue from the supply operations, we used the current float and calculated an annual yield of 4.33% based on the prevailing effective federal funds rate in the U.S. In practice, many issuers may achieve higher yields, but this serves as a rough benchmark to estimate expected revenue figures.

Total Market Overview

· Total Stablecoin Supply: $240 billion

· Total Stablecoin Trading Volume: $3.1 trillion (over the last 30 days)

· Reserve Income: $10 billion (assuming a fixed float and annual yield)

Breakdown of Total Stablecoin Supply by Use Case

The distribution of stablecoin supply reveals which platforms and use cases are effectively attracting and retaining float. The total supply has been steadily climbing since the summer of 2023, hitting all-time highs this year with significant growth across CEX, DeFi, and unlabeled wallets.

Top 10 Entities by Stablecoin Supply

A large portion of the stablecoin supply is concentrated on centralized exchanges, with Binance taking a clear lead. DeFi protocols and issuers also hold a significant share.

Total Stablecoin Trading Volume by Use Case

Since the summer of 2023, the total trading volume of stablecoins has steadily increased, with notable surges during periods of heightened market activity. DeFi has seen the highest volume growth, while trading volumes associated with MEV and unlabeled wallets remain high but volatile.

Top 10 Stablecoin Entities by Trading Volume

Entities with the highest stablecoin trading volumes are often centralized exchanges, followed by DeFi platforms and issuing institutions. CEX trading volume does not reflect trades occurring on the CEX platforms themselves, as most transactions happen off-chain. Instead, it represents user deposits/withdrawals, inter-exchange transfers, and internal operational activities.

Deep Dive by Use Case

Centralized exchanges continue to anchor stablecoin supply, accounting for a significant portion of the circulating volume within various ecosystems. In terms of trading volume, DeFi protocols and MEV-driven participants are currently the most active, underscoring the growing role of on-chain applications and composable infrastructure. This section will explore these categories to analyze key players, emerging trends, and profit opportunities.

Centralized Exchanges (CEX)

· Stablecoin Supply Share: 27%

· Stablecoin Trading Volume Share: 11% (Last 30 Days)

· Reserve Revenue: $3 billion (assuming fixed annualized yield)

Top 5 CEX by Stablecoin Holdings

Since the local lows of 2023, the supply held by leading centralized exchanges (CEX) has nearly doubled. Supply levels at Coinbase, Binance, and Bybit tend to fluctuate with market movements, while Kraken and OKX have shown more stable growth in their supply metrics.

Top 5 CEX by Stablecoin Transfer Volume

Given that most activities occur off-chain, it is challenging to obtain detailed data on how centralized exchanges (CEX) utilize stablecoins. Funds are often consolidated, with limited disclosure about specific usage. This opacity makes it exceedingly difficult to comprehensively evaluate stablecoin activity within centralized exchanges (CEX).

Stablecoin trading volume attributed to centralized exchanges (CEX) reflects on-chain activities associated with deposits, withdrawals, inter-platform transfers, and liquidity operations, rather than internal trades, margin collateral, or fee settlements. Therefore, it is best viewed as an indicator of user interaction with exchanges rather than a measurement of total trading activity.

DeFi

· Stablecoin supply share: 11%

· Stablecoin trading volume share: 21% (last 30 days)

· Reserve revenue: $1.1 billion (assuming fixed floating annual yields)

Main Categories of DeFi Stablecoin Holdings

The supply of DeFi stablecoins comes from collateralized assets, liquidity provider (LP) assets, and settlement layers of lending markets, decentralized exchanges (DEX), and derivatives protocols. Over the past 6 months, the supply from CDPs, lending, perpetual contracts, and staking has nearly doubled. The share of supply in DEXs has seen a significant decline, not because of reduced DEX usage but due to improved capital efficiency in DEX operations. The popularity of Hyperliquid has recently driven substantial growth in the supply locked in perpetual contracts.

Main Categories of DeFi Stablecoin Trading Volume

Over the past 6 months, monthly DeFi stablecoin trading volume has grown from approximately $100 billion to over $600 billion, driven largely by massive growth in DEXs, lending, and CDPs.

In the DeFi space, stablecoins are deployed across the following key areas:

· DEX pools

· Lending markets

· Collateralized Debt Positions (CDPs)

· Others (including perpetual bonds, cross-chain bridges, and staking)

These segments use stablecoins in different ways—whether as liquidity, collateral, or for payments—shaping user behavior and protocol-level economics.

Top DEXs Ranked by Stablecoin TVL

Concentrated liquidity, stablecoin-focused DEXs, and cross-protocol composability have reduced the need for DEXs to maintain high stablecoin liquidity.

DEX Share in Total Stablecoin Volume

The majority of stablecoin trading volume in DeFi originates from DEXs. The share of DEXs in total trading volume fluctuates based on market sentiment and trading trends. Recently, memecoin trading volume surged to over $500 billion, accounting for 12% of total trading volume.

Top Lending Markets Ranked by Stablecoin TVL

Although lending activities have receded from their peak, Aave has shown strong recovery momentum, while newer protocols like Morpho, Spark, and Euler have also been gaining attention.

Top Collateralized Debt Positions (CDPs) Ranked by Stablecoin TVL

MakerDAO continues to manage one of the largest stablecoin vaults in the DeFi space, with high savings rates driving the increasing adoption of DAI. They hold billions of dollars worth of stablecoins that play a key role in maintaining DAI’s peg to the US dollar.

Other Top DeFi Protocols Ranked by Stablecoin TVL

Stablecoins also play a critical role in supporting derivatives, synthetic assets, perpetual contracts, and trading protocols in DeFi. Supply fluctuates among various perpetual contract protocols over time, with the focus currently centered on Hyperliquid, Jupiter, and Ethereal.

MEV

· Stablecoin Supply Share: <1%

· Stablecoin Trading Volume Share: 31% (Last 30 Days)

· Reserve Revenue: Not Applicable (Assuming Fixed Floating Annual Yield)

MEV vs Non-MEV Trading Volume

MEV bots extract value through transaction re-ordering. Their high-frequency behaviors lead to disproportionately high on-chain trading volume, often recycling the same funds repeatedly. The chart above separates MEV-driven activities to distinguish bot trading volume from human trading volume. MEV trading volume spikes during high volume periods and fluctuates as blockchains and applications attempt to counter MEV strategies. Forecasting revenue for high-volume, low-spread use cases like MEV is less straightforward than for high-spread use cases. Predicting reserve yields is less relevant here, but these use cases can utilize various monetization strategies such as transaction fees, spread capture, embedded financial services, and application-specific monetization.

Unattributed Wallets

· Stablecoin Supply Share: 54%

· Stablecoin Trading Volume Share: 35% (Last 30 Days)

· Reserve Revenue: $5.6 billion (Assuming Fixed Floating Annual Yield)

Stablecoin activity in unattributed wallets is harder to interpret, as the intent behind transactions must be inferred or verified through private data. Even so, these wallets account for the majority of stablecoin supply and often dominate trading volume.

The makeup of unattributed wallets includes:

· Retail Users

· Unidentified Institutions

· Startups and SMEs

· Dormant or Passive Holders

· Unclassified Smart Contracts

While attribution models are far from perfect, this "gray space" category of wallets is playing an increasingly large role in real-world payments, savings, and operational processes, many of which do not fully map onto traditional DeFi or trading frameworks. Some of the most promising use cases are emerging here, including:

· P2P Remittances

· Startup Treasuries

· Personal dollar savings in inflationary economies

· Cross-border B2B payments

· E-commerce and merchant settlements

· In-game economies

As regulatory clarity improves and payment-focused infrastructure continues to attract capital, these emerging use cases are expected to scale rapidly—especially in regions underserved by traditional banking services. We will delve into this topic more thoroughly in the second part of this series. For now, let’s take a look at some overarching trends:

Number of Holders by Balance Size

Despite the vast number of untagged wallets—over 150 million—most of them have negligible balances. More than 60% of untagged wallets hold less than $1 in stablecoins, while fewer than 20,000 wallets hold stablecoin balances over $1 million.

Total Stablecoin Holdings by Wallet Size

When we shift focus to the total holdings segregated by wallet size range, the trend is completely reversed. Fewer than 20,000 untagged wallets with balances exceeding $1 million collectively hold over $76 billion, accounting for 32% of the total stablecoin supply. Meanwhile, wallets with balances under $10,000—representing more than 99% of untagged wallets—collectively hold $9 billion, less than 4% of the total stablecoin supply. While the majority of wallets are small in size, the majority of untagged stablecoin supply is held by a relatively small number of high-value wallets. This distribution reflects the dual nature of stablecoin usage: grassroots accessibility on one end and significant concentration among institutional players or large holders on the other.

Conclusion

The stablecoin ecosystem has entered a new phase, where increasing value will flow to developers building applications and infrastructure. This marks a critical maturation of the market; its focus will shift from the currency itself to the programmable systems that enable the currency to function. With the refinement of regulatory frameworks and the proliferation of user-friendly applications, stablecoins are poised for exponential growth. By combining the stability of fiat currency with the programmability of blockchain, stablecoins constitute a foundational cornerstone for building the future of global finance.

The future of stablecoins belongs to developers who create applications, infrastructure, and experiences that unleash their full potential. As this transformation accelerates, we can anticipate more innovation in the ways value is created, distributed, and captured across the ecosystem. The future will not be defined solely by stablecoins, but by the ecosystems built around them.

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