Autor original: Nancy, PANews
À medida que o mercado de stablecoin continua a se expandir, seus fundamentos passam por atualizações multifacetadas. Atualmente, desde a cooperação quebra-gelo entre Binance e Circle, ao layout intensivo de gigantes criptográficos, às frequentes atividades de financiamento e à melhoria gradual do ambiente político, os cenários de liquidez e aplicação da trilha stablecoin estão se expandindo rapidamente, acelerando para se tornar a narrativa central deste ciclo.
"Reunião" de Binance e Circle, gigantes líderes aceleram a expansão de stablecoins
Em 11 de dezembro, a Binance anunciou oficialmente uma cooperação estratégica com o emissor de stablecoin USDC Circle para expandir a adoção do USDC e apoiar o desenvolvimento de ativos digitais globais e um ecossistema mais amplo de serviços financeiros. De acordo com o acordo, a Binance integrará profundamente o USDC em sua linha de produtos, fornecerá serviços de negociação, poupança e pagamento para 240 milhões de usuários em todo o mundo e incorporará o USDC nas reservas da empresa. A Circle fornecerá suporte técnico, liquidez e ferramentas de suporte à Binance.
In this regard, Binance CEO Richard Teng stated that both parties will jointly promote the innovation and application scenarios of stablecoins. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire emphasized that with Binance's rapidly developing financial super-app ecosystem, USDC is expected to gain broader application.
This 'century reconciliation' has shocked the crypto community, especially given the previous antagonistic backdrop between the two companies. Looking back at last year, the stablecoin BUSD jointly issued by Binance and Paxos faced investigation by US regulators, forcing Binance’s significant business line to exit the center stage of stablecoins. Circle is considered the 'whistleblower' behind this investigation, as reported by Bloomberg, citing insiders that Circle reported to the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in the fall of 2022 that Binance did not have enough reserves to support the BUSD tokens issued through Paxos.
However, today's collaboration not only marks a handshake between two major competitors but also lays a new foundation for the larger-scale expansion of stablecoins.
In fact, leading crypto enterprises have been increasingly active in the stablecoin space lately. For instance, Binance has been expanding the application of multiple stablecoins, including the integration of the stablecoin FDUSD on the Sui network and the integration of USDT on the Aptos network.
Tether has also recently released several important updates. For example, Tether has significantly increased the minting volume of USDT, with the total minting volume reaching $4 billion this month, and over 100 million on-chain wallets currently holding USDT; USDT has been recognized as a virtual asset by the Abu Dhabi Global Market. At the same time, Tether is also accelerating its expansion across multiple blockchains, including USDT launching on the TON chain and plans to introduce support for the Aptos network.
Circle is also accelerating its layout. Recently, Circle announced the launch of the cross-chain transfer protocol CCTP V2, reducing settlement time from minutes to seconds, with plans to support Ethereum, Base, and Avalanche networks by early 2025, and will expand to more blockchains in the future; at the same time, Circle also announced that USDC will launch on Aptos and plans to support platforms like Unichain.
In addition, Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD has also announced receiving approval from the New York Department of Financial Services, initially opening this stablecoin only to institutional clients.
These dynamics indicate that the stablecoin market is rapidly developing, especially with the accelerated layout of leading enterprises undoubtedly driving the penetration and application of this sector within the global financial system. In addition, PANews recently reviewed the progress in the European market in the article (The EU Starts the Stablecoin War: 21 Issuers Compete, Circle Takes the Lead, Tether Supports 'Agents').
The total market value of stablecoins has exceeded the $200 billion mark, with investment and financing driving the ecosystem towards prosperity.
The stablecoin market is reaching a milestone moment. According to DeFiLlama data, as of December 12, the total market value of stablecoins has reached a historic high, exceeding the $200 billion mark. Asset management firm Bitwise predicts that the market size of stablecoins may double next year, reaching $400 billion.
In fact, the role of stablecoins in the global financial system is becoming increasingly prominent, and their application scenarios are becoming more diversified. According to a recent research report from Standard Chartered Bank, stablecoins are evolving from early use only on crypto exchanges to becoming important tools in the global financial field. Especially in emerging markets where traditional cross-border banking services are restricted, stablecoins provide a fast and reliable digital dollar asset transfer solution. Surveys show that in countries like Brazil, Turkey, Nigeria, India, and Indonesia, 69% of respondents use stablecoins as a currency alternative, 39% for goods and services payments, and another 39% for cross-border payments.
Especially now, with the rise of more innovative stablecoin projects, the ecosystem is becoming increasingly rich, while demand for this tool continues to rise, and the influx of capital provides more possibilities and imagination for the further development of stablecoins. According to PANews statistics, at least 23 stablecoins have announced financing in the second half of this year, with these projects collectively receiving over $1.86 billion in investments, among which Bridge raised as high as $1.68 billion, primarily due to its acquisition by payment giant Stripe for $1.1 billion in October this year.
For example, recently Binance Labs announced its investment in the Solana stablecoin trading infrastructure project Perena, aiming to address the fragmentation of the stablecoin ecosystem and reduce the capital requirements for new stablecoin issuances through its product Numéraire. Platform users can mint stablecoins through this protocol, obtain tokenized returns on real-world assets, and achieve customized risk-return allocations using a layered collateral debt position system.
The stablecoin-driven financial platform KAST has also announced the completion of a $10 million seed round of financing, co-led by Peak XV and HongShan, investment firms split off from the giant Sequoia, supporting users to hold and use stablecoins through traditional payment channels and offering credit card services usable at standard merchant networks, allowing users to spend their stablecoin assets at merchants that do not support crypto payments.
The cross-border stablecoin payment company Sphere has completed a $5 million financing led by Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures. This agreement enables stablecoin cross-border payments between enterprises by collaborating with global fintech companies and licensed remittance service providers, allowing stablecoins to be exchanged for local fiat currency in the supported regions.
The continuous advancement of these innovative projects not only injects new vitality into the development of stablecoins but also gradually expands their role in the global financial ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the global regulatory environment for stablecoins is gradually improving, and policy trends in various regions are providing institutional guarantees for the development of stablecoins. The latest (stablecoin regulatory draft) from Hong Kong will be submitted for the first reading in the Legislative Council on December 18, proposing a regulatory system for fiat stablecoin issuers, marking a substantial step forward in stablecoin regulation; the Central Bank of Brazil is expected to lift the ban on self-custody of stablecoins, with a more open regulatory attitude; the upcoming (Crypto Asset Market Regulation Bill) (MiCA) from the EU is also expected to become an important milestone in global stablecoin regulation, providing more compliance guarantees for the stablecoin market; and the yet-to-be-approved (Payment Stablecoin Clarity Act) in the US could provide licenses to stablecoin issuers, with Trump’s upcoming administration believed to accelerate the introduction of this crypto legislation.
Overall, under the active layout of leading crypto companies and the continuous influx of capital, stablecoins are opening up more application scenarios to meet the urgent demand from the global financial market for convenient, secure, and efficient payment tools, thereby accelerating the transition of stablecoins from the crypto fringe to the mainstream financial market. Meanwhile, the gradual advancement of policies in various countries is paving the way for the compliance and standardization of the stablecoin market.
