Citi proyecta que las stablecoins podrían alcanzar $4 billones en emisión para 2030

Los gigantes financieros finalmente despiertan al tsunami de las stablecoins.

Predicción estratosférica

Citi lanza un pronóstico que haría temblar a cualquier banco central: las stablecoins podrían escalar hasta los $4 billones en circulación dentro de cinco años. La institución bancaria—normalmente cautelosa—reconoce lo inevitable mientras las monedas estables comen terreno a las transferencias tradicionales.

Adopción imparable

Estos activos digitales ya no son juguetes para cripto-entusiastas. Empresas multinacionales y plataformas de pagos las adoptan para liquidaciones transfronterizas que antes tomaban días—ahora se resuelven en segundos. Los reguladores luchan por mantener el paso mientras el volumen diario supera el PIB de países enteros.

El futuro ya llegó

Los escépticos del sistema financiero tradicional—siempre rezagados—siguen cuestionando la estabilidad mientras sus propias comisiones de intermediación se evaporan. Las stablecoins no piden permiso; simplemente ejecutan.

Citi questions stablecoins as firms prefer tokenized deposits

Despite the surge in adoption, Citi is still cautious. Ronit and Ryan made it clear that stablecoins aren’t the magic solution for everything. They noted that payments inside most countries already happen in real time and at a low cost, especially in places with advanced fintech systems.

The real issue still lies with cross-border payments, which are slow and expensive. That’s where stablecoins could help. But even there, fintech apps and banks have already started cutting costs and speeding things up.

“It is not a digital format war that we foresee,” the analysts said. “But a continued progress towards smarter, faster finance.” The bank also said most companies are still hesitant. In their words, most firms remain “curious rather than enthusiastic” about using stablecoins in real operations.

Instead, a lot of them prefer bank tokens, also known as tokenized deposits, digital versions of regular bank money that come with regulation. Citi said these might actually handle more transactions than stablecoins by 2030.

Crypto sell-off hits stablecoin firms and bitcoin-linked stocks

While forecasts around stablecoins are growing, the overall crypto market isn’t having a great week. Major coins dropped across the board. Bitcoin slid under $112,000 on Thursday, dropping 2%. Ethereum went down 5% to below $4,000, hitting its lowest price since August.

Other coins like Solana saw even steeper declines. All this came after more than $1.6 billion in long positions were liquidated earlier in the week. CoinGlass data showed $511 million in liquidations in the last 24 hours alone.

That wasn’t the only thing spooking crypto investors. U.S. stock markets are down too. A lot of investors are pulling back over concerns that AI hype pushed prices too far, and that the Federal Reserve might not cut interest rates anytime soon.

September is usually a shaky month for crypto, and this one’s no different. Another issue is the Treasury General Account. The U.S. government has been refilling it by selling T-bills and bonds, which sucks cash out of the market and hurts demand for riskier assets like crypto.

Crypto-related stocks were dragged down too. Robinhood and Coinbase each fell more than 1% on Thursday. MicroStrategy, which holds a large amount of Bitcoin, also took a hit. So did Circle, the firm behind one of the top stablecoins.

U.S. and international regulators are debating new rules for how stablecoins should be issued and monitored. And big names like PayPal have already added more stablecoin offerings, while retailers like Walmart and Amazon are exploring building their own.

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