#596
The Dollar’s New Avatar
Published:
Jun 21, 2025
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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Stablecoins – once crypto’s backstage utility players – are now charging into the financial mainstream. With over $250 billion in circulation today and projections to surpass $2 trillion by 2028, their rapid ascent is reshaping everything from cross-border payments to monetary policy. The volume of stablecoin transactions hit $752 billion last month – an 84% jump from the year before – while the number of active wallets that regularly send and receive payments climbed to 46 million.
Their appeal is clear: instant settlement, low fees, and dollar exposure in economies where inflation, capital controls, or banking instability make traditional rails unreliable. But this digital dollar surge isn’t just a developing-market story. In the U.S., the Senate’s passage of the Genius Act signals a pivotal regulatory shift, with mandates for $1-for-$1 reserves, AML compliance, and audited financial statements for large issuers.
Major corporates like Amazon and Walmart are eyeing their own stablecoins, while giants like Visa and Mastercard deepen their bets. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury warns that up to $6.6 trillion in bank deposits could be at risk of migrating to these tokens, potentially pressuring interest rates and liquidity.
In short: the dollar isn’t going away – but it may increasingly move at the speed of software. And the fight over who gets to issue it is just beginning.
Portfolio News
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The Dollar’s New Avatar
How stablecoins are entering the financial mainstream - Usage of the digital assets is growing rapidly, but concerns remain about supervision and their impact on other parts of the financial system. Investment bank Standard Chartered has forecast there could be some $2b of stablecoins in circulation by the end of 2028, from around $250b now. Read more
Senate passes stablecoin bill in big win for crypto industry - The bill, the first of its kind to put federal guardrails on digital currencies, sets up oversight of stablecoins. The roughly $240b stablecoin market is expected to surge in the coming years, with financial-industry titans such as Visa and Mastercard getting into the sector, attracted in part by the prospect of regulatory certainty created by the bill. Amazon and Walmart are among the big companies also exploring stablecoins. Read more
Walmart and Amazon are exploring issuing their own stablecoins - Some of the biggest merchants are exploring how to issue or use stablecoins, potentially shifting the high volumes of cash and card transactions that they handle outside the traditional financial system and saving them billions of dollars in fees. Read more
Coinbase brings stablecoins to eCommerce with Coinbase Payments - Coinbase Payments, announced this week and already live with Shopify, is designed to help payment service providers (PSPs), marketplaces and eCommerce infrastructure providers to bring stablecoin payments to market more quickly. Read more
Industry News
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JPMorgan to pilot deposit token JPMD on Coinbase-linked blockchain - The token issuance and transfer will be denominated in dollars, and institutional clients will be able to use the deposit tokens for transactions, with plans to expand to other users and currency denominations pending regulatory approval. The JPMD pilot marks an expansion of JPMorgan's blockchain efforts, and deposit tokens like JPMD are seen as a superior alternative to stablecoins, offering potential advantages such as interest-bearing and deposit insurance. Read more
WhatsApp to show ads, offer paid subscriptions for first time - Meta will start showing ads in WhatsApp's "Updates" tab, which gets 1.5b visitors per day, and will also allow advertisers to promote their WhatsApp Channel and sell subscriptions. Read more
Goldman, JPMorgan see Germany leading deals revival in Europe - German dealmaking activity is expected to see the strongest revival in Europe due to a new €500b government fund for infrastructure and climate projects. European executives, including those in Germany, are more optimistic about dealmaking, with Germany becoming a hotspot for initial public offerings. Read more
X exploring payments cards with trading function coming ‘coon’ - “You’ll be able to come to X and be able to transact your whole financial life on the platform,” Linda Yaccarino said in an interview with the Financial Times this week at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. Read more
Nuveen acquires Brooklyn Investment Group - Brooklyn Investment Group is a leading multi-asset custom direct indexing provider. As a result of the deal, Nuveen and Brooklyn said they will prioritize collaboration on three key initiatives in the coming months, with the first being to accelerate the integration of Nuveen’s alternatives and lifetime income capabilities into tax-advantaged offerings. Read more
Select Financings
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Multiplier - Singapore based AI professional services firm developer raised $20m in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Read more
Payabli - Miami based embedded payments platform raised $28m in Series B funding led by insiders QED Investors and Fika Ventures. Read more
Pelico - Paris based supply chain orchestration platform raised $40m in Series B funding led by General Catalyst. Read more
Polar - Sweden based open-source billing startup raised $10m in Seed funding led by Accel. Read more
Ramp - New York based financial operations platform for companies raised $200m in Series E funding led by Founders Fund. Read more
SaturnX - Dubai based infrastructure provider for stablecoin-based cross-border payments raised $3m in Seed funding led by White Star Capital. Read more
Tensec - Palo Alto based cross-border financial services platform raised $12m in Seed funding led by Costanoa Ventures. Read more
Ubyx - New York based stablecoin clearing platform raised $10m in Seed funding led by Galaxy Ventures. Read more
WorkWhile - San Francisco based marketplace for hourly workers raised $23m in Series B funding led by Rethink Impact. Read more
XFX - Miami based developer of infrastructure for international settlements raised $9.1m in Seed funding led by Haun Ventures. Read more
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