Stablecoin fever: 5 major stablecoins are growing crypto adoption

Increasing institutional interest and moves toward legal frameworks for stablecoins have seen the space grow, with five major projects slated to expand the market in the near future.

In the EU, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory package is in full force and has given stablecoin issuers clear guidelines by which they can enter European markets. In the US, the STABLE Act and the GENIUS Act, which would provide rules for stablecoins, are making their way through Congress. 

As a result, major payments firms like Mastercard and Visa are stepping up support for stablecoin systems, and new coins have appeared, boosting the overall market capitalization of the stablecoin market. 

Here are five major stablecoin initiatives projected to grow crypto adoption.

Stablecoin giant Tether is eyeing a relaunch in the US with a dollar-based stablecoin. 

Tether’s USDt (USDT) is already known worldwide as the largest stablecoin on the market, providing liquidity to crypto trading pairs on numerous exchanges. 

However, Tether has found itself in hot water with regulators over proof of its reserves, other financial transparency and Anti-Money Laundering concerns. 

In an April 30 interview with CNBC, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the firm wants to launch a rebranded coin in the US, separate from its ubiquitous international stablecoin. “A domestic stablecoin would be different from the international stablecoin,” he said.

The move would give Tether access to US financial markets as the latter’s exposure to crypto widens under the pro-crypto administration of US President Donald Trump.

At the beginning of March, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency project tied to the Trump family, launched its dollar-backed stablecoin, USD1, on the BNB Chain and Ethereum.

According to CoinMarketCap, the coin has over $2 billion in market capitalization at publishing time.

The stablecoins follow other high-profile crypto projects that use the president’s personal brand as a marketing tool, namely the TRUMP and WLFI memecoins that launched ahead of Trump’s inauguration. 

Related: Are Donald Trump’s tariffs a legal house of cards?

Trump’s ability to influence stablecoin policy has led a group of US senators to call for an inquiry into his personal interests in the project, calling it a clear conflict of interest.

Two US banks, the crypto-friendly Custodia Bank and the Texas-based Vantage Bank, have entered a partnership to issue the supposed first bank-issued stablecoin in the US, UK and Europe.

On March 25, Custodia stated that it tokenized US dollar demand deposits on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 standard token called Avit. 

Custodia CEO and crypto advocate Caitlin Long said that Avit is a “real dollar” in that it tokenizes funds that customers can withdraw on demand, like checking account deposits. 

On April 28, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison announced that his global payments platform was working on a US-dollar-based stablecoin product for use outside the US.

The move comes after it received approval to acquire stablecoin payments network Bridge in a $1-billion deal in October 2024, a deal which it completed in February 2025.

Bridge was founded by two former Coinbase executives, Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, in 2022 and competes with firms using the ubiquitous SWIFT global payments system. 

The stablecoin initiative is the latest development in the firm’s expanding crypto plans. After a false start on Bitcoin support in 2014, the firm began rebuilding its crypto team in earnest in 2021. On Oct. 9, 2024, the firm opened USDC support for users in 70 countries. 

Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company, Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) partnered to launch a dirham-backed stablecoin on April 28.

According to The National, FAB — the largest bank in the UAE — will issue the stablecoin on the ADI network pending approval from the central bank. 

The ADI network is a project of the ADI Foundation in Abu Dhabi, which itself is a nonprofit organization founded by Sirius International Holding, a local holding firm with a $243 billion market capitalization. 

The firms claim that the stablecoin will “have a significant impact on various industries, including finance, commerce, and trade.”

Related: Stablecoin adoption grows with new US bills, Japan’s open approach

New stablecoin issuances are picking up the pace, and payments firms, banks and financial institutions are adding support for them as well.

On April 28, international payments giant Mastercard partnered with OKX to expand its stablecoin card options, which allow cardholders to spend stablecoins through their Mastercard linked with prominent crypto firms. 

Two days later, Visa announced that it partnered with Stripe and Bridge on April 30 to offer stablecoin payments on its network in Latin America, starting with Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile.

SBI VC Trade, the cryptocurrency subsidiary of the Japanese financial conglomerate SBI, said it was preparing to add support for USDC after local regulators softened their approach to foreign stablecoins. Pending formal approval, the trading platform will be one of the first in Japan to offer cryptocurrency trading in USDC (USDC).

Regulators and payments providers worldwide are warming up to stablecoins. US lawmakers have yet to vote on the aforementioned crypto bills, but if the stablecoin frameworks pass, adoption is set to take off as firms gain access to a large financial market with clear guidelines.

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