All the Stablecoin News: Stripe, Visa, Coinbase, Circle, More

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May 15, 2025

Sam Broner, a Deal Partner at a16z crypto and stablecoin expert, dives into the latest developments in the stablecoin arena. He discusses Circle's plans to go public, the innovative stablecoin features from Stripe and Coinbase, and how companies like Visa and Mastercard are embracing stablecoins. The conversation reveals important data behind the surge in stablecoin use, comparing their growth to traditional payment systems. Broner highlights the potential of stablecoins to transform global payments and penetrate everyday transactions.

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INSIGHT

Stablecoin Transaction Boom

Stablecoins processed $33 trillion in transactions in the last 12 months, triple Visa's volume.
They are competing with major global payment networks due to infrastructure maturity.

INSIGHT

Stablecoins Decoupled From Crypto Cycles

Stablecoin usage is largely uncorrelated with speculative crypto market cycles.
This suggests stablecoins have found product-market fit beyond trading.

INSIGHT

Fintechs Embrace Stablecoins Together

April 2025 marked a major turning point with multiple fintechs embracing stablecoins simultaneously.
This alignment occurred due to technical progress, emerging regulatory clarity, and profit incentives.

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with @rhhackett @smc90 @DarenMatsuoka @SamBroner

Welcome to web3 with a16z, a show about the next generation of the internet. I'm Robert Hackett.

There has been a flurry of stablecoin news lately, so we're doing a special bonus episode to cover everything that's been going on. Sonal and I are joined by a16z crypto’s Data Science lead Daren Matsuoka who shares the actual data behind the stablecoin trend. Then we have Sam Broner — who is a Deal Partner here and our frequent author on stablecoins — to analyze the news, and help highlight the signal versus the noise.

Here's a selection of the news:

USDC issuer Circle filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange
Coinbase released an agentic payments standard with support for stablecoin payments
Visa and Mastercard enhanced stablecoin support
Stripe announced stablecoin financial account balances, a programmable stablecoin (via Bridge), a stablecoin-backed card, and more
Meta is reportedly in talks to introduce stablecoins as a means for payouts
And much more

We also have one of our regular episodes covering the broader stablecoins trend and big picture, dropping separately in the feed, also with Sam and a16z crypto Founder Chris Dixon, so be sure to check that out next.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Introduction

(1:30) Stablecoin Data Overview

(3:55) Stablecoin Adoption and Infrastructure

(4:24) Market Share of Issuers and Blockchains

(6:10) Stablecoin Growth vs. Crypto Market Cycles

(7:45) Stablecoin News and Developments

(9:44) Fintech Embraces Stablecoins

(12:44) Legacy Payment Systems vs. Stablecoins

(17:04) The Future of Stablecoins and Open Networks

(22:11) Conclusion

Links to related resources:

Everything stablecoins: Big picture, deep dive with Chris Dixon, Sam Broner, and Robert Hackett (a16z crypto, May 2025)
A chart of stablecoin usage growth vs. crypto market cyclicality (@DarenMatsuoka on X)
The month fintechs embraced stablecoins by Sam Broner (a16z crypto, May 2025)
What Stripe's acquisition of Bridge means for fintech and stablecoins by James da Costa and Sam Broner (a16z crypto, April 2025)
A guide to stablecoins: What, why, and how by a16z crypto editorial (a16z crypto, April 2025)

As a reminder, none of the content should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice; please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.