Korea Blockchain Week丨Stablecoins Enter a New Chapter: From "Boring Infrastructure" to the Engine of Global Financial Innovation

At the Blockchain Week in South Korea, there was a discussion themed "Why is stablecoin developing rapidly?" The speakers included Anthony Yim, co-founder of the data panel Artemis, and David Katz, Vice President of Strategy and Policy for Circle in the Asia-Pacific region. With regulatory legislation being implemented and payment infrastructure maturing, stablecoins are quickly transforming from "a tool for Crypto Assets" to a core driver of global financial innovation.

Engineer’s Perspective: Traditional Payment Infrastructure is "Completely Broken"

Anthony Yim stated, "In the early days, I was an engineer at Venmo (, a financial service provider ), and most of my time was spent dealing with strange exceptions in traditional payment systems, making it nearly impossible to develop new features." The emergence of stablecoins essentially provides a simpler, more scalable infrastructure, allowing future financial innovations to no longer be limited to ensuring that 'money can move from point A to point B,' which is a fundamental problem.

Stablecoin market size: from 300 billion USD to 2 trillion USD

Currently, the total supply of stablecoins globally is less than 300 billion USD, but the industry generally predicts it will surpass 2 trillion USD in the coming years. "Many fintech companies are just starting to experiment with stablecoins, but the enthusiasm is already very high. This indicates that we are still in the early stages, and there is significant room for growth in the future."

Speakers believe that currently 95% to 99% of stablecoin applications are still limited to the cryptocurrency trading market. However, with the advancement of regulatory bills such as the U.S. Genius Act, more traditional financial institutions are beginning to experiment with stablecoins to accelerate settlement speed, cross-border payments, and capital transfers.

The value of regulatory developments like the "Genius Act" lies in making participants outside the industry begin to realize that stablecoins are really useful. Settlement is no longer T+2 or T+1, but rather T+30 seconds or even faster. Processes can be automated, funds can be transferred across borders, without relying on traditional multinational settlement mechanisms.

The more regulation, the faster the innovation?

It is worth noting that, contrary to the initial spirit of "avoiding regulation" in the crypto industry, the guests believe that the implementation of regulation actually promotes more innovation. This contradictory phenomenon of "regulation bringing innovation" is driving stablecoins into a new chapter.

In the past few years, the focus has been on making Crypto Assets "work." Now, it's time to enter the next chapter and explore "what can be done." Some details remain tricky, such as the "fuel sharing (fuel sharing)" issue, which the U.S. banking industry lobbies against. But the most important change is the market sentiment. Previously, people thought stablecoins were boring, just digital dollars in their wallets, but now builders and the application layer are starting to realize that it is actually a new generation of financial infrastructure: free, open, and programmable.

Non-USD stablecoins and interoperability become the focus of the future.

Although the current market is almost entirely dominated by USD stablecoins, Yim predicts that more "non-USD stablecoins" will emerge in the future. He stated: "I live in Singapore, and my income and expenses are in Singapore dollars, so when trading on-chain, I naturally want to use Singapore dollar stablecoins."

However, experts also point out that interoperability is the biggest challenge that stablecoins must address. Currently, there is a lack of efficient clearing systems between different stablecoins, which is even worse than traditional banks. "The key to the future is to create a 'central bank clearing layer' for the crypto world, allowing stablecoins issued by any brand or enterprise to freely interconnect."

The Balance of Privacy and Transparency: The Paradox of Encryption Payments

At the same time, stablecoin payments also face privacy dilemmas. Yim cited an example: "If I buy coffee with a stablecoin, and the barista can see my salary and savings on the blockchain, this is obviously not feasible." As a result, the market has seen the emergence of new chains like ARK and Canton that emphasize "selective privacy," allowing regulators to verify legally while protecting user information in normal times. The speakers also unanimously agreed that privacy will be a prerequisite for financial institutions to fully adopt stablecoins.

The "stablecoin boom" is coming soon.

The participants unanimously predicted that there will be a "stablecoin explosion" in the future. Brands like Amazon and Walmart are almost certain to launch their own stablecoins. Although the success is still difficult to anticipate, the number will definitely increase sharply. Stablecoins will make Visa and MasterCard more popular, as payment cards remain the products with the highest retention in all on-chain applications.

This article Korea Blockchain Week丨Stablecoins Enter a New Chapter: From "Boring Infrastructure" to the Engine of Global Financial Innovation first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.