Jeremy Allaire, Circle CEO, commented that he felt stablecoins were on the verge of having a breakout moment reminiscent of the 2007 iPhone launch. Allaire said the community is not quite experiencing an iPhone moment regarding using stablecoins. He said we’ll know when we’ve reached that moment when developers universally recognise the value of programmable dollars. Circle is the issuer of the widely used stablecoin USDC.
Allaire believes that stablecoins are on the verge of being widely recognised worldwide. Allaire responded to a post by Sam Broner, partner at a16z Crypto, who stated that stablecoins improve competition and enable companies to build low-cost financial applications. Broner further commented that stablecoins allow anyone to program money, which leads to better access to economic applications.
Sam Broner, partner at a16z Crypto, stated that fixed and marginal costs of creating a financial startup are now significantly cheaper due to the accessibility of stablecoins. Broner argued that stablecoins enable better competition in the FinTech market, lower product prices, and benefit the community overall. These comments by Broner and Allaire come as Walmart and Amazon plan to release their dollar-backed stablecoins.
E-commerce giant Shopify announced it will integrate Circle’s USDC stablecoin by the end of 2025. There seems to be a lot of momentum gearing up behind stablecoin adoption. Allaire believes the hype is significant and indicates further progress in using stablecoins.
Circle was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5, jumping 165% in price due to traders buying the newfound stocks. There is a keen interest in crypto and AI companies on the stock market, adding to the speculative value of crypto stocks. Circle CEO Allaire believes the excitement has just begun and will culminate in an iPhone-like event.
Stablecoins have been building momentum lately due to their practical use as a remittance medium. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer by market capitalisation, announced on June 8 that they had no plans to create a public listing in the foreseeable future. Tether issues the stablecoin USDT and dominates the market. Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO, said that the company will remain a private entity and will not follow suit with Circle’s IPO. As Allaire puts it, an “iPhone moment” could be just around the corner due to the amount of competition heating up around stablecoin use. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act may contribute to the breakout moment that Allaire envisions.
Stablecoins are digital currencies often pegged to a real-world asset such as US dollars. Due to their underlying algorithm, stablecoins are very fast to transact and can be programmed for various purposes. Conversely, due to their high volatility, traditional cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are cumbersome to transact across borders. Stablecoins were invented to overcome Bitcoin’s limitations and attract institutional investors to the world of digital assets.
The latter goal has been very successful if the current hype about stablecoins is anything to go by. There was much uncertainty surrounding using stablecoins due to the conflicting regulatory reports in America. At one stage, it was thought that stablecoins would be regulated as securities, which would have put a lot of unnecessary pressure on stablecoin issuers. The regulatory environment has changed significantly since then, and stablecoins could be on the verge of experiencing a golden age. Conversely, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are issued by governments instead of private companies. The benefit of stablecoins is that they can be used easily by companies such as Amazon and Walmart.
Circle, meanwhile, has released its stablecoin USDC on the XRP ecosystem, furthering the reach of the pegged US dollar and stablecoins in general. The move extends USDC across Ripple’s ISO accredited business services, boosting USDC’s legitimacy in the crypto market. Developers will benefit from this integration because they can utilise the stablecoin without engaging in complex bridging operations. The integration of stablecoins into major blockchain networks such as Ripple is a sign that stablecoins are on the verge of having an iPhone moment.
