US Financial Firms Aim to 'Capture $2 Trillion Market'... Create Own Coins and Support Payments [Stablecoin Investment Era(2)]

As the Donald Trump administration, which advocates for 'Crypto President', establishes stablecoin regulations, global financial institutions such as US-based banks, cards, and asset management companies are all rushing to capture the market. They are not only issuing stablecoins themselves but also introducing them into existing payment infrastructure and launching related financial services. In response, the US Treasury Department has predicted that the stablecoin market will grow rapidly to $2 trillion within the next three years.

■ US Banks Can Also Issue Stablecoins

According to the industry on the 27th, the Trump administration is speeding up the organization of stablecoin regulations through close cooperation with Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while allowing financial institutions to enter virtual asset services. In other words, both the Republican and Democratic parties in the US Senate support the stablecoin bill (Genius Act), and regulatory authorities such as the SEC are expanding the business scope related to virtual assets for banks.

Lim Min-ho, a researcher at Shin Young Securities, said, "As the Trump administration organizes systems related to stablecoins, it is fulfilling most of the existing virtual asset pledges," and "The US Congress is also speeding up to pass the stablecoin bill in August by forming a joint task force on digital assets." He added, "The virtual asset task force (TF) under the SEC has selected the tokenization of financial infrastructure as a key task, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are preparing the institutional foundation by deleting the regulations prohibiting banks from handling virtual assets."

The government has thus played a role in priming the pump so that traditional financial sectors such as banks and credit cards can activate stablecoin services following the 'Crypto Masterpiece' Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) of global asset management companies. Recently, Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America (BoA), also stated, "If stablecoins are legalized, we will enter the market," which is in the same context. The Genius Act allows banks to issue dollar stablecoins issued in the US, and BoA is also likely to issue a stablecoin (BoA Token) linked to accounts where dollars are deposited.

Hong Sung-wook, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, emphasized, "Interest in stablecoins among financial institutions, including banks, is high even before the final passage of the Genius Act," and "Stablecoins are highly profitable while the first-mover advantage is important."

■ PayPal, AI Pays with Stablecoins

Fidelity is researching its own stablecoin that can be linked with tokenized funds such as physical assets, and Visa and MasterCard are integrating stablecoins into the global payment infrastructure. The use of stablecoins for settlement maximizes payment speed and cost efficiency. Kim Min-seung, head of the research center at Korbit, said at a policy discussion forum of the Digital Asset Committee under the election committee of Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, "Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal are introducing stablecoin payment services one after another," and "In particular, PayPal's stablecoin PYUSD, combined with artificial intelligence (AI) agents, will enable fast and efficient global payments and refunds."

The inclusion of short-term US Treasury bonds as major reserve assets for fiat-backed stablecoins is also a point of interest. Korbit's research center observes that if the use of stablecoins by traditional financial sectors is further promoted, additional demand for US Treasuries will continue to arise.

The research division of iM Securities also stated, "The US Treasury Department predicts that if the Genius Act is finally passed, the total market capitalization of stablecoins will increase to $2 trillion by 2028," and "Considering that the current stablecoin market cap is about $230 billion, stablecoin issuers have the potential to become major players in the US Treasury market." They added, "Last year, the scale of US Treasury sales by China and Japan was $111 billion," and "Given that the total US Treasury holdings of Tether and Circle are $126 billion, it played a role in partially cushioning the demand gap caused by sales from China and Japan."

elikim@fnnews.com Kim Mi-hee Reporter