a16z report: Stablecoins are transforming into financial infrastructure, with Asia capturing 2/3 of the global market

Stablecoins are moving beyond their role as simple cross-border remittance tools, shifting toward localized daily payments and experiencing explosive growth following the implementation of regulatory frameworks. This article is summarized from an analysis by a16zcrypto.com. (Context: a16z announces a $10 billion new fund to invest in AI, crypto finance, and defense tech) (Background: Bloomberg: How did a16z become the key force behind US AI policy?) Over the past year, stablecoins have been establishing their core role. Initially, they were merely trading tools used to move USD assets between major exchanges. Subsequently, stablecoins evolved into savings tools, serving as assets for long-term holding rather than daily consumption. Today, various data points indicate a brand-new development trajectory: stablecoins are becoming core global financial infrastructure. The following nine charts reveal the underlying trends driving this transformation. For most of the stablecoin development phase, regulatory uncertainty long hindered the entry of institutional capital. With the implementation of the GENIUS Act, the regulatory framework has become clearer. This act was not the source of the industry trend, but rather an accelerator of its development. Changes in stablecoin trading volume before and after the GENIUS Act Through the GENIUS Act, the US has established a federal-level regulatory framework for stablecoin issuance for the first time. The data changes intuitively confirm the policy impact: in the quarters leading up to the act's implementation, adjusted stablecoin trading volume had already been rising; after the act took effect, growth accelerated further, with trading volume reaching approximately $4.5 trillion in Q1 2026. MiCA has driven the non-USD stablecoin market The implementation of the European crypto-asset regulatory framework, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), has shown a more complex situation. After MiCA fully took effect at the end of 2024, several mainstream exchanges delisted USDT for compliance reasons, directly driving a short-term surge in non-USD stablecoin trading volume, with peaks exceeding $40 billion. Since then, market trading volume has stabilized, with the overall base significantly higher than before the implementation of MiCA, maintaining a monthly volume between $15 billion and $25 billion. The new regulations have spurred a previously non-existent demand for non-USD stablecoins. Perhaps the most significant shift in market structure lies in how people actually use stablecoins. Stablecoin commercial payments are concentrated in the C2C sector In terms of transaction count, peer-to-peer (C2C) transactions lead significantly, reaching 789.5 million in 2025. Meanwhile, consumer-to-business (C2B) transactions are growing the fastest, with the number of transactions increasing from 124.9 million in 2024 to 284.6 million in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 128%. Growth trends in stablecoin payment card infrastructure Data on stablecoin payment cards also corroborates this trend. Stablecoin payment card programs relying on Rain technology (including Etherfi Cash, Kast, Wallbit, etc.) saw monthly collateral deposits soar from near zero in November 2024 to over $300 million per month by early 2026. Although these funds are collateral for payments rather than direct stablecoin spending, the growth curve is critical: stablecoin commercial payment scenarios are rising across the board. The velocity of every dollar of stablecoin in circulation is accelerating. Stablecoin velocity trends Since the beginning of 2024, stablecoin velocity (adjusted monthly transfer volume ÷ circulating market cap) has nearly doubled, climbing from 2.6x to 6x. Increased velocity means that the growth rate of stablecoin transaction demand has outpaced the rate of new issuance, significantly improving the efficiency of existing capital. This is also a core characteristic of mature payment networks: the underlying currency is used at high frequency rather than simply held passively. If we exclude activities such as trading, capital flows, and exchange mechanisms (which account for the majority of stablecoin transactions), the estimated payment volume between different participants last year was between $350 billion and $550 billion. B2B stablecoin payments dominate Business-to-business (B2B) remains the core driver of stablecoin payments, holding the top position in volume. At the same time, niche scenarios such as personal transfers and merchant payments are expanding rapidly. In terms of geographical distribution, stablecoin payment activity is uneven. Asia is the primary region for stablecoin payments Nearly two-thirds of the transaction volume comes from Asia, primarily from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The North American market accounts for about one-quarter, and Europe for about 13%. The combined scale of Latin America and