Bitwise: Stablecoins Move Toward Mainstream Cryptocurrency Assets Fully Connect Global Finance

Author: Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise; Translation: Shaw, Golden Finance

Recently, the crypto industry has been tumultuous: Bitcoin has re-approached $80k, Haun Ventures has raised $1 billion for a new crypto venture fund, and progress has been made in U.S. Congress on the CLARITY Act. But among these hot topics, two recent news stories have been lingering in my mind:

• DoorDash will launch stablecoin payment features in over 40 countries

• Meta begins to open stablecoin revenue settlements to platform creators in the Philippines and Colombia

In terms of scale, neither of these events is currently considered groundbreaking. Both are still in pilot phases, with relatively small funding sizes. But they have answered a long-standing question I’ve had about stablecoins and strengthened my conviction that: The future asset size of stablecoins will expand to trillions of dollars, with user numbers surpassing hundreds of millions. More importantly, these two events have clarified what the true killer application of stablecoins really is.

From the present to the future

Currently, the total assets of stablecoins hover around $300 billion. Mainstream forecasts suggest that by 2030, this could reach as high as $4 trillion. To achieve this goal, stablecoins must break out of their current core use in crypto trading and truly enter everyday consumption and payment scenarios.

The industry has already made some progress: startups like ARQ provide convenient USD stablecoin access to over two million users in emerging markets; Yellowcard leverages stablecoins to support B2B transactions among companies in the Southern Hemisphere, with rapid business growth.

But to truly scale and reach hundreds of millions of ordinary users, stablecoins need the involvement and support of major giants.

Detailed analysis of two core events

DoorDash’s business spans over 40 countries, with an extremely complex business model. Every day, it handles billions of dollars in transactions among consumers, merchants, and delivery drivers, including tips, refunds, and frequent driver turnover. The platform has about 80k delivery drivers.

Imagine this: managing onboarding, payroll, and offboarding for over 10 million flexible workers across 40 countries, while adapting to different banking systems, currency rules, and payroll regulations—an operational nightmare. To simplify this process, DoorDash has partnered with Stripe to explore issuing settlement payments via stablecoins. In the future, paying drivers will only require a wallet address.

Meta faces a similar challenge. Its platforms like Instagram need to settle earnings with content creators in over 100 countries worldwide: creators are free to come and go, with flexible working hours, involving dozens of different fiat currencies. The exact number of creators has not been disclosed, but industry statistics show that the global creator economy has over 40k participants. Cross-border payroll for such a large group is extremely difficult, so Meta is exploring using Solana and Polygon networks to settle earnings with creators via stablecoins, initially in the Philippines and Colombia, with plans for ongoing expansion.

Overlooked killer applications of stablecoins

These two events reveal a key logic that most people have not understood.

We usually promote the advantages of stablecoins as lower fees and faster transfers. I often introduce it this way: Using stablecoins allows for global instant transfers with fees as low as 1 cent; whereas traditional bank wire transfers take 2 to 5 business days and can cost up to $30. This is true and a significant advantage.

But the core motivation behind DoorDash and Meta’s stablecoin initiatives isn’t just about saving money. More importantly: Stablecoins make global payments extremely simple — just one wallet address, no reliance on traditional banking infrastructure, and no currency conversions needed. For global companies handling massive volumes of small cross-border payments, this simplified underlying capability is invaluable.

I believe all large tech companies with distributed gig workers worldwide will follow DoorDash and Meta’s lead. This process will also bring hundreds of millions of ordinary users into the crypto ecosystem.

Ultimately, this is the biggest industry impact: Stablecoins are the most powerful on-ramp and bridge for mainstream adoption in the crypto world. Once users have stablecoin wallets, they can easily access Bitcoin and decentralized finance (DeFi). When stablecoins reach hundreds of millions of people, crypto assets will become a permanent part of the global financial infrastructure, and the audience for crypto investments will experience explosive growth.

These pilot projects precisely point to a clear path toward this future.