Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has revealed that a significant transfer of wealth over the next two decades could transform the way global payments are made, with stablecoins likely to play a central role in this change for the broader crypto sector.
In a new blog post, the company projects that between 2028 and 2048 as much as $100 trillion could pass from “Baby Boomers” to “Millennials” and “Generation Z, groups that are far more likely to view crypto as a standard part of their financial lives.
That demographic and capital movement, Chainalysis argues, will drive an enormous increase in on‐chain stablecoin activity and accelerate adoption of crypto payment rails.
Why Chainalysis Predicts Stablecoin Surge
Chainalysis bases its forecast on two converging trends. First, beginning around 2028, the composition of the adult population in North America and Europe will change.
Millennials and Gen Z — groups among whom nearly half have at some point held cryptocurrency — are expected to become the dominant economic actors, gradually replacing Generation X and Boomers in influence and purchasing power.
Second, estimates from institutions such as Merrill Lynch suggest as much as $100 trillion could transfer to younger generations by 2048. Chainalysis calculates that this generational transfer alone could add roughly $508 trillion to annual stablecoin transaction volumes by 2035.
Beyond direct wealth transfers, Chainalysis highlights point‐of‐sale (POS) adoption as a second major driver. The firm estimates that POS saturation of stablecoin rails could contribute as much as $232 trillion in annual stablecoin volume by 2035.
Taken together, the influx of inheritable capital and broader merchant adoption would produce a new payments baseline where stablecoin rails constitute a core element of the infrastructure that moves money.
Crypto Transactions Could Match Visa And Mastercard
If current trends in transaction growth continue, Chainalysis says on‐chain stablecoin transactions could reach parity with the off‐chain transaction counts of Visa and Mastercard sometime in the 2031–2039 window.
The report cautions, however, that adoption rarely follows a straight line: network effects, user incentives, and technological improvements could bring that crossover earlier.
As consumers evaluate payment options, they are likely to compare crypto rails with traditional systems on familiar metrics — fees, settlement times, and rewards — and stablecoin‐linked cards and services could compete directly with legacy providers.
Chainalysis sees these dynamics already prompting strategic moves by established financial players. The blog post points to actions such as Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge and Mastercard’s partnership with BVNK as examples of incumbents positioning themselves to operate on both traditional and on‐chain rails.
The firm argues that, for banks and payments companies, the choice is becoming binary: build infrastructure and partnerships to capture flows from crypto‐native customers or risk ceding transactions to alternative rails operated by others.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
