Standard Chartered and BNY Mellon have joined a growing list of global financial institutions building product offerings around stablecoins. The move reflects a shift in the conversation inside banking, from whether stablecoins belong in finance to how banks fit into the networks forming around them. Chainalysis estimates stablecoin settlement volumes could reach a quadrillion dollars a year by 2030.
Institutional Adoption
Standard Chartered’s announcement to offer institutional clients direct access to minting and redeeming Circle’s USDC came just days after BNY Mellon expanded its support for USDC. Both banks are considered global systemically important banks by the Bank for International Settlements’ Basel Committee. Their decisions reflect a pattern among lenders toward using established stablecoin networks rather than creating their own.
Network Effects
The surrounding ecosystem is key to a stablecoin’s success, according to Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic, a co-founder and partner at Steakhouse Financial. “The network is what creates the value,” he said. “The stablecoin itself becomes almost secondary.” Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis, noted that Europe lacks enough euro-denominated liquidity, leading to settlement activity migrating to dollar-backed stablecoins.
Euro Stablecoins
Qivalis is developing the Euro On-Chain (EUOC) stablecoin, a regulated euro alternative for European banks, businesses, and payment firms. The goal is to give institutions a way to settle in euros rather than converting assets into dollars and back again. Agant’s Andrew MacKenzie said he sees the same trend emerging in the U.K., with banks investing in infrastructure to connect stablecoins with traditional finance.
Success Factors
The success of a stablecoin depends on how the bank deploys it to its customers, according to Steakhouse Financial’s Cachinero Vasiljevic. “Anybody can issue a stablecoin,” he said. “But if nobody uses the stablecoin, the stablecoin is worthless. The value of the stablecoin is the network.
Based on reporting from crypto.news.