Stablecoins Are the Trojan Horse of Crypto

The rise of stablecoins and what Stripe’s announcement means for crypto adoption

Stablecoins have been quietly laying the groundwork for a major shift in how money moves online. Now it’s no longer quiet.

Stablecoin Transactions over time, source: Bitwise.

Stripe just rolled out support for stablecoin payments—and launched its own: USDB. That move came shortly after acquiring Bridge, a digital money transfer API startup, for $1.1B. It’s a clear signal: stablecoins are going mainstream.

The market agrees. The total stablecoin supply keeps hitting new all-time highs. USDC and USDT remain in the top 10 crypto assets by market cap—firmly embedded in the core of the ecosystem.

This isn’t just another financial trend. Stablecoins are changing how money works—globally.

Here is a recap of the main advantages of stablecoins

• You can move money across borders in seconds, nearly fee-free.

• Earn meaningful yield without needing a large balance.

• Skip the bureaucracy of banks and credit scores—just open a wallet.

• And for creators, traders, and crypto companies, they offer a way to hold value without riding every market swing.

Even legacy players like Visa and Mastercard are integrating them into credit and debit flows.

@garrett paying his coffee with USDC, using his Metamask x MasterCard card…

All signs point in the same direction: stablecoins aren’t just here to stay—they’re about to become a default payment option for millions of people. All exciting stuff—especially if you’re into finance or run a business.

But there’s a bigger story here. One that touches “onchain culture” and “consumer crypto” in a fundamental way.

Stablecoins are a Trojan Horse for Crypto Adoption

So what does it mean for actual exposure? Let’s put this into scale…

In 2024, Stripe processed $1.4 trillion in total payment volume, accounting for roughly 1.3% of global GDP. The platform powers over 1.3 million live websites, has been used by another 2.9 million, and serves half of the Fortune 100 and 78% of the Forbes AI 50. Now, stablecoin payments are starting to show up right alongside credit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, and other payment options at checkout. With Stripe’s massive reach, millions of people are about to see stablecoins for the first time.

Stripe launching USDB puts them in direct competition with Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT). It’s safe to assume they’ll be pushing stablecoin payments hard.

How? Possibly through better rates for both merchants and consumers.

Imagine this: I could accept stablecoin payments for my newsletter here on Substack. Stripe takes a lower fee and automatically gives me 3–5% annual yield on the stablecoin balance in my account. Not bad. Now extend that to all Substack writers, all creators over the internet… All of eCommerce.

But beyond finance, to use stablecoins, you need a wallet. Custodial or not, users will have to interact with crypto infrastructure. And that’s where it gets interesting.

One of the biggest blockers for crypto and blockchain adoption has been the complexity of the tech. Wallets, gas fees, key management, fragmentation—it’s overwhelming. Once people receive or send stablecoins, two major frictions get resolved:

• Getting a crypto wallet

• Funding it

Once people have wallets, they’re inside the system. And once they’re in, all it takes is fun and useful onchain experiences—games, art, collectibles, or new ways to invest (DeFi). We’re still early here, but the past few years have brought real progress in consumer-facing blockchain apps.

Stablecoins Are the New Onboarding Ramp

Stablecoins aren’t just good for payments—they’re unlocking new opportunities across the onchain economy.

For content creators, SaaS tools, and businesses, stablecoin support from platforms like Stripe could finally enable recurring payments—something crypto has been missing for years. That shift could lead to more stable, sustainable business models across the ecosystem.

For app and experience builders, this should translate into more users with money to spend in your app.

Artists can expect a broader audience with blockchain-enabled payments—and one-click NFT buying, without the need for a 3-day tutorial.

Collectors, more liquidity is likely headed your way.

Things are moving fast and the potential is real—but that doesn’t mean there isn’t tension.

Where Stablecoins and Bitcoin Diverge

There is a tradeoff here—or maybe more of a vision misalignment—especially when you compare stablecoins to Bitcoin’s original purpose.

If you’ve read the Bitcoin whitepaper, one of its core intentions was to disrupt the traditional financial system by enabling peer-to-peer payments without intermediaries. It was a push for a new kind of money—independent, decentralized, and censorship-resistant.

Stablecoins, on the other hand, are a hybrid. Especially those pegged to fiat currencies like the US Dollar or the Euro, which are essentially extensions of the existing financial system—just ported onto the blockchain. They’re still tied to the same governing bodies and monetary policies they aim to mirror.

That said, stablecoins aren’t only pegged to fiat. They can also be backed by other assets like gold, stocks, or even baskets of goods. But the vast majority of current stablecoin usage is centered around fiat-backed versions.

So here’s the tension: for those who saw Bitcoin as a payment technology for a fully sovereign financial system, the mainstream adoption of stablecoins might feel like a step backward. But for the vision of Bitcoin as a long-term store of value—a kind of digital gold—it’s not necessarily in conflict.

In the big picture, stablecoin adoption is a huge win for blockchain-based infrastructure, especially Ethereum, which Stripe chose as the first network to support its stablecoin. (Other chains will likely follow.) But it doesn’t directly benefit Bitcoin—at least not in terms of its original vision for payments.

Until next time,

- Kaloh