Stablestats

𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢, 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐲𝐚, 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬. ✦ 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞: Kenya’s crypto ecosystem has experienced significant expansion, with over $20 billion in annual transactions. Stablecoins now dominate transfers, accounting for approximately 43% of the region's crypto volume. I had a great time speaking with Felix, Ronald, and Derrick to find out about the growing Stablecoin ecosystem in East Africa. Thanks to the @PlasmaFDN team for making this happen, and @proofofnathan and @rongplace for their support.

Welcome to Money Code, Stablecon’s flagship podcast that decodes stablecoins and the future of programmable money for builders, investors and decision makers. Hosted by @chuk_xyz, Author of Stablecoin Blueprint, and @rparekh, Head of Payments & Stablecoins at Monad Foundation, this show dives into the systems, strategies and stories from operators driving digital finance forward. Each week we’ll bring the best ideas directly to the builders and decision makers shaping what comes next. The conversation starts here. Coming soon!

South Korea’s biggest banks are about to test whether stablecoins belong inside the banking system. @ShinhanBankENG, Hana, KB Financial, and @wooribank met last week with @tether (USDT) and @circle (USDC). On the table: → Distributing dollar-pegged stablecoins in South Korea → Launching a won-based stablecoin → Building rails through private banks, not a central bank The political context is shifting fast: → President Lee Jae Myung campaigned on a pro-crypto platform and is pushing for a national stablecoin market → The Bank of Korea scrapped its CBDC plans in June → Upbit is already working with Naver Pay on its own stablecoin Stablecoins are moving into regulated finance. And when four of South Korea’s biggest banks explore direct issuance, it’s a signal that stablecoins are shifting into the core of financial infrastructure. The bigger question: what happens when other banking markets decide to follow?

The twelfth edition of our newsletter, Where Money Moves, is live. Twice a month, we unpack the key trends, developments, and data shaping the stablecoin industry. Dive in.

Met with Timmy @timmyisagod founder of @getcryptonia

𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐬, 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚, 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬. Nigeria’s commercial capital has become the continent’s proving‑ground for dollar‑pegged tokens. In just the past year, Nigerians moved tens of billions of dollars in stablecoins, slashed remittance costs, and built a grassroots dollar economy that now touches one in eight citizens. ✦ #2 worldwide for grassroots crypto adoption. Nigeria sits immediately behind India in Chainalysis’ 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index. ✦ 𝐔𝐒$𝟓𝟗 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 in on‑chain crypto flowed into the country (Jul 2023 – Jun 2024). Stablecoins already account for approximately 𝟒𝟎% of all crypto value entering Nigeria, the highest share in Africa. ✦ Retail‑sized (< $𝟏 𝐌) stablecoin transfers hit ~ US$3 billion in Q1 2024 alone.Continent‑wide stablecoin volume topped US$𝟑𝟎 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 (Jun 2022 – Jul 2023); Nigeria captured ~𝟒𝟎 % (~ 𝐔𝐒$𝟏𝟐 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧). ✦ FX‑starved SMEs: Importers use USDT/USDC to pay Chinese, American, and European suppliers when banks cannot source dollars. Thanks to the @PlasmaFDN team for making this happen, and to @proofofnathan and @rongplace for their ongoing support.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ✦ @WesternUnion Union embraces Stablecoins ✦PayPal launches PayPal World ✦ Tether.io Signals US expansion ✦ @WisdomTreeFunds unveils Stablecoin Strategy ✦ @perena launches USD ✦ @Polymarket mulls launching its own Stablecoin ✦ @ethena Labs $360M SPAC ✦ @OndoFinance Finance launches USDY on @SeiNetwork

Incredibly honored and grateful for the invitation to watch @POTUS sign the Genius Act today. Tether has already brought over 160 billion USDT to over 500 million users worldwide. Now that President Trump has led the United States to embrace digital assets, we believe we can increase tenfold and cement the dollar's global dominance. Thank you for your support ♥️

1/ There has been a lot of discussion lately about the potential use case of stablecoins for retail payments at merchants. Given every stablecoin transaction is publicly visible today, what does the onchain data show?

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ✦ US House passes Genius Act ✦ @dakota_xyz raises $12.5 million led by @coinfund ✦ @BankofAmerica is working on its Stablecoin ✦ @okx integrates @Paxos USDG ✦ Orbital and ClearBank link Stablecoins with SEPA ✦ @Noah_HQ and @gnosispay Partnership ✦ Spiko raises $22 million led by Index Ventures

the number of non-us stablecoin based finance apps at 7 figure revenue run rates and growing like crazy is wild we have invested in two give me more if you are building this in latam/africa/asia pls reach out

The Genius act has passed. 306-122 with 4 NV remaining on the R side. 102 Democrats in favor after also bringing in massive support from the Democratic side in the Senate. This is the most important piece of bipartisan financial legislation since Dodd-Frank. A new era begins.

Excited about stablecoins? You're not bullish enough yet. Let me explain why Crypto has 4 mass-market use cases today: 1) Store of value. Almost half a billion people have owned crypto. BTC has been the best performing asset of the past decade. Interest to hold BTC and other crypto assets is rapidly increasing. 2) Trading. Coinbase’s core biz and a source of livelihood for thousands if not millions of people. 3) Staking. A better way to save and earn. 4) Stablecoins. The future of global payments. 1 & 2 have been around for over a decade. Staking went mainstream about 5 years ago. And we are only now seeing stablecoins take off. It is becoming increasingly clear that stablecoins are the future of payments, and the backbone of the emerging global digital economy. They are starting to eat legacy credit, debit, and banking networks. Eventually stablecoins will become so embedded in commerce that consumers will transact in them without realizing it. How big can that get? Citigroup estimates the total stablecoin market cap to be at $1.6 trillion by 2030 - and others put this as high as $3.7 trillion. Even more impressive, they also estimate the total addressable market for cross-border transfers at $195 trillion. As big as these projections are, they’re still sleeping on the opportunity and missing a few very important things: • Stablecoins are more than a financial plumbing update - this will be an overhaul to the existing system. They offer a new global, open financial network that will drive the mass migration of unbanked or underbanked individuals and businesses into the global economy. • Stablecoin rails + self-custodial wallets = internet-native bank accounts that are open to everyone everywhere. Stablecoins are growing the global economic pie. • We already know stablecoins are especially compelling to people who are underbanked and who live in countries with currency instability. We’ve also seen data that shows stablecoin payments attract new customers to merchants, allowing individuals who were previously sidelined to participate in global commerce. Now think one step further: • What about AI agents and faster, automated transactions leading to more volume? • What about small, cash-oriented businesses around the world going digital? Stablecoins enable payments for the internet age. As the network and tech grows, these things become possible. Technology moves in concert, and we see stablecoins enabling an exponential increase in the pace of money movement. By 2030, every person and business who uses the internet (and a huge contingent of those who currently don’t) will interact with stablecoins. Coinbase is going to make sure of it. Stablecoins are critical to our mission of increasing economic freedom by unlocking more open, fair, free, and transparent financial services (DeFi) globally, unencumbered by legacy financial systems. The TAM is massive, and we’re just getting started.

💸Citigroup also wants in on stablecoins •Launch plans: A day after @jpmorgan announced it will build a stablecoin, @Citi CEO Jane Fraser revealed on a post earnings call that the bank is exploring issuing a proprietary stablecoin, with a strong emphasis on tokenized deposits. •Crypto services expansion: The firm is also investigating reserve management for stablecoins and custody services for crypto assets. •Strategic rationale: Citigroup wants to streamline payments infrastructure—issuing a stablecoin would create a faster, programmable layer for cross border and treasury operations. •Market forecasts: Citi’s internal think tank predicts that the global stablecoin market could grow to $1.6 trillion in a base scenario—or as much as $3.7 trillion by 2030. •Regulatory environment: The potential launch is buoyed by legislative momentum, including the Senate’s passage of the GENIUS Act, though progress has slowed in the House. •Optimistic backdrop: This comes amid a strong Q2 performance—Citi beat expectations, saw its stock hit highs not seen since 2008, and announced a $4 billion share buyback.

The XPL public sale opens today, July 17 at 9:00 AM ET. The sale is only open to users who deposited into the vault during the deposit window. Your allocation is fully reserved until the sale ends on July 28 at 9:00 AM ET, so there is ample time to commit. Take your time and stay vigilant. Make sure you’re using the correct URL: app.plasma.to Full details in the blog post: plasma.to/insights/xpl-t…

The first global financial platform, built from the ground up. Grateful to be building it with this team.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐀’𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡 Together with @ayammaher and @PlasmaFDN, we take a deep dive into the Stablecoin Ecosystem in the MENA region. ✦ 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭‑𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐛𝐬. The MENA region now sees stablecoins accounting for roughly 52% of all cryptocurrency transactions. ✦ 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧‑𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬. Dollar‑pegged tokens slash the cost of the region’s 𝐔𝐒$𝟏𝟏𝟎 𝐛𝐧 annual remittance flows, shield households from double‑digit currency inflation, and fit a mobile‑native population where two‑thirds are under 30. ✦ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭-𝐬𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. Our 2025 map tracks over 40 operators spanning wallets & super‑apps (Wish Money, botim), B2B rails (Fuze, Walapay), on- and off-ramps, remittance exchanges, issuers, and bank consortiums, showing an ecosystem that now covers the entire payment stack. ✦ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥‑𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞. ‑ 12 % of Abu Dhabi taxi fares are already paid in AE Coin; botim routes ≈ 𝐔𝐒$𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝐦 per month in ultra‑low‑cost transfers by converting AED⇄to USD and⇄INR behind the scenes. Thanks to @ayammaher and the @PlasmaFDN team.