Article Author:Chris Dixon
Article Translation:Block unicorn
Chris Dixon is a general partner at a16z, leading its crypto investment division.
The internet globalized information, and cryptocurrency is having a similar effect on money. Although recent headlines may focus on the price of Bitcoin, a deeper and more lasting transformation is taking place in the field of digital payments. This year, stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to assets like the US dollar—are gradually becoming a mainstream choice for online and international payments.
Call it the "WhatsApp moment" for money. Just as chat apps like WhatsApp reduced the cost of international text messages from about 30 cents per message to zero, stablecoins are doing the same for financial transactions. The data confirms this: last year, after excluding bots and other irrational transactions, the trading volume of stablecoins exceeded $12 trillion—approaching Visa's $17 trillion trading volume last year, but at a much lower cost.
In the process, stablecoins are bringing the original openness and interoperability vision of the internet to the financial sector. Given that blockchain technology allows stablecoins to be programmed, money is effectively becoming software.
Although most stablecoin transactions currently come from "crypto-native" and global commercial activities, rather than daily consumer activities, this is changing. As more improvements are introduced, such as integration with more traditional financial partners to make user transactions more convenient, the mass adoption of stablecoins will follow.
When people around the world use stablecoins for transactions, they are almost unaware that they are using stablecoins. Most people will think they are simply using US dollars. This is indeed the case, as the distinction between stablecoins and dollars has become very abstract for end users. Since each token is backed by one US dollar or equivalent asset, the name itself is not important. What matters is that the product is more reliable than any previous payment technology, almost free, and settles much faster, almost instantly.
Stablecoins also demonstrate the infinite possibilities that can arise from the alignment of policy and technology. Last year's "Genius Act" established clear rules for US stablecoins. More importantly, Congress is currently reviewing the "Clarity Act", which aims to regulate the broader blockchain networks and digital asset ecosystems that underpin stablecoins. The Clarity Act will help determine whether these networks can scale and become part of the global financial infrastructure, or whether they will stagnate.
When challengers are given a level playing field and space for innovation, the market works its magic. It was with this power that the internet defeated traditional giants; it was with this power that the United States dominated the internet; and it is with this power that stablecoins will surpass today's payment systems.
Businesses are beginning to realize the advantages of stablecoins. Some of the world's largest technology companies, banks, and retailers are actively promoting the use of stablecoins, or, like Fidelity Investments (Fidelity), have issued their own stablecoins. The payment giant Stripe has acquired several cryptocurrency companies in the past year or so and now supports the use of stablecoins at checkout, instantly reducing payment processing fees from about 3% to 1.5%, with significant room for further reduction.
SpaceX uses stablecoins to transfer funds from countries like Argentina and Nigeria, where local banking systems are fragile or capital controls are strict. Some companies use stablecoins to pay their global workforce faster. Ultimately, the internet may transform into an open marketplace where machine-to-machine transactions will flourish, and AI agents will conduct transactions and settlements on behalf of users in real-time.
The popularization of stablecoins will also have a second-order effect that is often underestimated: these tokens consolidate the dominance of the US dollar in a multipolar world, thereby creating strong new demand for US Treasury bonds. Leading stablecoin issuers like Circle and Tether currently hold nearly $140 billion in short-term US government bonds directly, making them among the top 20 institutional holders of US Treasuries today.
If the adoption of stablecoins continues to grow at its current rate, their holdings will jump into the top 10 by next year. (The Citi Research Institute even predicts that by 2030, the amount of US Treasury bonds held by stablecoins may exceed those held by foreign governments and commercial banks.)
This is not just about payments; it is a reshaping of the global financial landscape. The internet gave us borderless communication; stablecoins give us borderless value transfer. With clear rules and a sound market structure, they can become the pipes and pillars of a new financial system.
