The GENIUS Act gave stablecoins a legal definition. Now banks, fintechs, and multinationals are moving fast. Here’s what mainstream adoption looks like in practice.
By Dominic Benson, Managing Consultant, and Charles Dally, VP Financial Services North America, Capgemini Invent.
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Stablecoins are about to take their seat at the traditional finance table, thanks to a 2025 US legislation that clarified their regulatory status. Since their creation in 2014, stablecoins have combined the programmability, speed, and decentralized nature of other digital currencies such as bitcoin with the price stability of fiat currencies such as USD, but their status and legal definition remained vague. With the passage of the GENIUS Act, the US has defined stablecoins issued by permitted issuers as payment instruments, rather than securities or commodities. That has opened the door for both traditional and decentralized finance use cases that span global enterprises to underbanked consumers.
The stablecoin shift is already underway. The two largest stablecoins now have a combined market capitalization of $260 billion, three times their value in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund. We expect stablecoins to represent 3% of all US dollar payments in 2026 and 10% by 2031. A major payment processor recently debuted stablecoin payments for subscriptions, and major credit card brands have launched fiat currency-to-stablecoin payout options.
Adoption of new payment ecosystems
Stablecoin’s rapid growth projection represents a potential disintermediation risk for banks, so leading institutions are developing their own stablecoin use cases for institutional clients. One major bank has issued its own permissioned stablecoin for these customers, which allows for real-time wholesale payments settlement instead of standard interbank processes that require hours or days to settle. In parallel, major European banks are moving collaboratively, with a major French bank recently joining a consortium to launch a euro-backed stablecoin, signaling growing institutional confidence in stablecoins as regulated settlement instruments.
Stablecoins hold the most potential ROI when they’re used to accelerate settlement and reduce liquidity friction. Those use cases can benefit a range of organizations, such as banks, fintechs and payment providers, multinationals with cross-border suppliers, online marketplaces, digital-first retailers, and remittance and payroll services. For example, one payment processor recently piloted its own stablecoin to settle cross-border merchant payments in real time inside its global checkout APIs. Also in 2025, a global messaging platform integrated a stablecoin into its in-app wallet to enable seamless peer-to-peer payments and in-platform commerce.
Banks and other financial institutions will be able to act as stablecoin custodians and issue their own stablecoins, positioning their organizations as providers of security, liquidity, and compliance gateways. Global enterprises can use bank-issued stablecoins to complement their existing cash pooling systems. Smaller companies could use stablecoins to implement streamlined, cost-effective cash and liquidity practices which might not have been accessible until now.
One global money transfer service recently announced the upcoming launch of its own stablecoin designed to integrate high-speed blockchain settlement directly into its consumer platform. Similarly, established incumbent payment providers are leveraging stablecoins to enhance settlement efficiency, extending their existing payment infrastructure. Adding a stablecoin payment rail in the remittance space can allow for near-instant settlement, reduce foreign exchange pre-funding, and allow for better cash flow visibility. Those improvements can make remittances faster and cheaper, lowering transaction costs and settlement friction so recipients receive funds with less value lost to fees and currency conversion spreads. Faster cross-border payments can also help businesses expand into new markets and reduce their import and export costs.
The growth of stablecoins also has the potential to expand financial inclusion. In the US, close to 25 million households are unbanked or underbanked, with no or limited access to payment and credit services. By enabling low-cost, real-time digital value transfers via a mobile device, stablecoins can provide a practical on-ramp to everyday payments, safer storage of funds, and a pathway toward formal savings and credit participation. The impact could be similar to that of Africa’s mobile money revolution, where serving unbanked consumers with new technologies has modernized the continent in fintech innovation, financial inclusion, and payment system interoperability. African companies are also innovating with stablecoins, including a fintech unicorn that’s adding stablecoin payment options to its peer-to-peer payments app.
Preparing for the stablecoin future
Organizations that want to adopt stablecoins should start by determining which use cases are best suited for their business and goals. Once those use cases are identified, the next step is finding the right partners to support them. Regulated stablecoin issuers can help trial use cases and establish pilots in low-risk areas or within safe sandbox environments alongside existing payment rails. When those pilots are ready to scale and expand, stablecoin-based processes should operate quietly in the background like other payment rails. Security considerations should be part of each use case and pilot. Analytics and real-time transaction monitoring, as well as adherence to applicable transfer protocols, can help banks and businesses maintain regulatory compliance and manage risk.
Many companies are also piloting AI programs, especially agentic AI, so it’s wise to look at the potential links between AI and stablecoins. Agentic commerce, where AI agents make purchases on behalf of consumers, currently faces friction in the form of credit card authorization and user verification. If these agents could pay with stablecoins instead, that would simplify the process and potentially redefine digital commerce. It would also disintermediate credit card issuers, who would need to find a way to compete or adapt today’s payment processes to support secure agentic commerce.
Eventually, stablecoins will be embedded within our existing financial infrastructure, such as treasury systems and banking rails. When that happens, programmable, real-time settlement across borders with built-in compliance will make stablecoins a valuable element of finance, commerce, and consumer life.
About the authors
Charles Dally
Charles brings over 25 years of comprehensive experience in the financial services industry, across diverse international markets including the US, Canada, UK, France, and Asia.
Charles is particularly adept at driving strategic initiatives and operational transformations, with a strong focus on data strategy, project management, IT governance, and designing effective business and operating models.
His career highlights include leading significant projects such as implementing complex data governance frameworks, establishing global databases for KYC compliance, optimizing operational efficiency through departmental reorganizations, and overseeing critical risk management initiatives.
Dominic Benson
Dominic brings over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, working across retail banking, capital markets, and wealth and asset management in the US, European and Asian markets.
He specializes in driving strategic and operational transformation at the intersection of business, technology, and emerging financial infrastructure, with a particular focus on blockchain, digital assets, and stablecoin strategy. Dominic has led initiatives with a focus on blockchain strategy and stablecoins.
His experience spans change and program management, business and operating model design, and delivery of complex, cross-functional transformations that help financial institutions adopt new technologies while delivering measurable business outcomes.
