According to Cpoinbase, the appeal lies in stablecoins’ ability to bypass traditional payment bottlenecks, offering faster, cheaper, and more efficient transactions. Small and medium-sized businesses are also showing enthusiasm, with 81% expressing interest. This rise in adoption is mirrored by skyrocketing usage metrics, with $27.6 trillion in stablecoin volume recorded in 2024.
Meanwhile, global financial giants like Société Générale have launched their own stablecoins, and retail shops in Bolivia are pricing goods in USDT. Still, concerns linger over issuer transparency, particularly with Tether. Overall, regulatory clarity and trust in issuers will be key to mainstream adoption.
Stablecoin Interest Triples Among Fortune 500
Interest in stablecoins among businesses is growing rapidly, according to Coinbase’s newly released State of Crypto report. The data reveals that almost 29% of executives from Fortune 500 companies said their firms are either planning to use or are interested in using stablecoins. This is a dramatic rise from just 8% in 2024.
(Source: Coinbase)
The threefold increase in enthusiasm is largely driven by a desire to overcome the challenges that are associated with traditional payment systems, including slow processing times and high transaction fees.
While only 7% of Fortune 500 respondents said their companies currently hold or use stablecoins, the trend is mirrored even more strongly among small and medium-sized businesses. Of 251 financial decision-makers surveyed from companies with fewer than 500 employees, 81% expressed interest in using stablecoins, up from 61% the previous year. Additionally, almost half of those surveyed expect to adopt some form of crypto in the next three years.
Coinbase attributes this uptick in interest to a shared belief that stablecoins can resolve certain financial pain points. These include faster and cheaper remittance solutions, reduced fees for payment processing, improved payroll efficiency, inflation resistance, and better financial infrastructure for underserved populations.
(Source: Coinbase)
Backing up the sentiment is a surge in stablecoin usage. Monthly organic transfer volumes peaked at $719 billion in December of 2024 and again reached $717 billion in April of 2025. Over the full year of 2024, total stablecoin volume reached $27.6 trillion. This was more than the combined processing volume of Visa and Mastercard. The number of stablecoin holders also surpassed 161 million in May of 2025, outnumbering the total users of America’s top four mobile banking apps.
The growing interest isn’t limited to private firms. Uber’s CEO recently revealed that the company is exploring the use of stablecoins to optimize global money transfers. Internationally, governments and financial institutions are also getting involved. Russia’s finance ministry proposed a state-backed stablecoin in April, while three major entities in Abu Dhabi collaborated to launch a new dirham-pegged stablecoin.
Stablecoins Safer Than Banks?
Stablecoins may offer a safer alternative to traditional bank deposits. This is according to Diogo Monica, general partner at Haun Ventures. At the Proof of Talk conference in Paris, Monica explained that many stablecoins are backed by reserves held at globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs) or in short-term US Treasury bills. This structure, he argued, makes them more secure than deposits held at commercial banks, which are considered liabilities of the bank and may be at risk if the institution fails and deposit insurance does not fully cover the loss.
Monica's point rests on the idea that a stablecoin represents a claim on high-quality collateral, rather than on the solvency of a potentially unstable regional bank. However, he also acknowledged that stablecoins come with their own unique risks, largely stemming from the actions and trustworthiness of the issuers themselves.
Tether, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, has long been at the center of debates around transparency and risk. One of the most memorable incidents occurred in 2018 when Bitfinex, a crypto exchange closely tied to Tether, lost access to $850 million through its payment processor, Crypto Capital.
To cover the shortfall, Tether lent at least $625 million of its reserves to Bitfinex without publicly disclosing the transaction or the exchange’s liquidity issues. At the time, this left Tether only 74% backed by cash and equivalents, according to court documents and an affidavit that was filed in 2019. Bitfinex eventually repaid the debt, completing the transfer of the final $550 million in early 2021.
(Source: Tether)
Despite these events, Tether has not yet undergone a full independent audit. Although the company issued reserve attestations and claims to be working with a Big Four accounting firm, no formal audit has been released. This lack of transparency continues to concern people in the crypto community.
Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, described Tether in late 2024 as “one of the biggest existential threats to crypto,” and criticized its reserve disclosures as inadequate and lacking the rigor of a proper third-party audit. While stablecoins may be underpinned by stronger collateral than traditional bank deposits, the safety they offer ultimately hinges on the credibility and openness of the entities behind them.
Société Générale Launches USD Stablecoin
Meanwhile, Société Générale-Forge, the crypto division of French banking giant Société Générale, launched a new US dollar-pegged stablecoin called USD CoinVertible (USDCV). The stablecoin will be issued on both Ethereum and Solana, with Bank of New York Mellon acting as the custodian for the underlying assets.
This launch follows the company’s euro-pegged stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible (EURCV), which was introduced in April of 2023 for institutional clients. According to Société Générale-Forge CEO Jean-Marc Stenger, the introduction of a USD counterpart was a natural progression given the accelerating adoption of stablecoins in global markets.
The main goal of the newly launched USDCV is to offer round-the-clock fiat-to-digital currency conversions, supporting real-time settlement in both dollars and euros. The stablecoin is designed for multiple applications, including crypto trading, cross-border payments, foreign exchange, onchain settlement, and collateral management.
Both USDCV and EURCV will be accessible to institutional, corporate, and retail clients via brokers and payment service providers, though they will not be available to users based in the United States. Trading for USDCV is expected to commence in July.
Stablecoins are gaining traction globally as regulatory environments evolve and adoption increases. In South Korea, new legislation could soon enable the domestic issuance of stablecoins, as part of a campaign promise from President Lee Jae-myung. In the United States, pending regulation is reportedly motivating companies like Apple, X, and Airbnb to explore stablecoin integration.
Meanwhile, stablecoin usage is also expanding organically in emerging markets. In Bolivia, retail shops have started displaying prices in Tether’s USDT, fueled by local banks offering USDT custody services. Major global firms like Stripe are also investigating stablecoin use cases, particularly in the context of lowering cross-border transaction costs and streamlining international payments.
