Standard Chartered now expects the stablecoin market to reach $2 trillion in 2030, two years later than its previous target, after total supply remained near $309 billion. Supply has stayed between $300 billion and $320 billion over the past year, while the bank says usage continues to grow.
Monthly stablecoin transfers averaged just under $10 trillion this year, up from $4 trillion in 2025, and reached a record $19 trillion in May. Average monthly velocity—the number of times each stablecoin dollar changes hands—rose to about 30 from 15 last year.
The growth differs by token and use case. Tether’s USDT has monthly velocity near seven and is used mainly for dollar savings in emerging markets. Circle’s USDC reached about 80, up from 45, as it gained use in payments, financial transactions and early payments between AI agents. The bank also identified crypto trading as a separate market where USDC and Ethena’s USDe have established positions.
Competition is expected to be strongest in developed-market payments. Potential challengers include USDG, stablecoin infrastructure provider M^0 and A+, a planned network that would allow banks to issue a shared stablecoin. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, said the division of income from reserve assets between issuers and payment networks could affect market share.
Regulation remains a risk to the forecast. Kendrick said the effect will depend partly on whether other countries adopt rules resembling the U.S. GENIUS Act, whose implementation is due to begin in January 2027. Treasury’s proposed framework would require state-level regimes to meet or exceed federal standards for stablecoin issuers, including rules covering reserves, redemption, supervision and enforcement.