The U.S. Treasury warns that stablecoins could reach a $2 trillion market cap by 2028, potentially destabilizing the dollar and reshaping global finance.
At a Glance
- U.S. Treasury projects stablecoin market cap to hit $2 trillion by 2028
- Growth could necessitate $1.6 trillion in U.S. Treasury bills as reserves
- Tether plans to launch a U.S.-specific stablecoin, intensifying debates
- Critics argue stablecoins may undermine the dollar’s global dominance
- Emergence of gold-backed stablecoins poses additional challenges
Stablecoin Market Expansion
The U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee estimates that stablecoins could surpass a $2 trillion market cap by 2028, according to BeInCrypto. That’s a staggering jump from their current value of approximately $234 billion. This growth is largely fueled by the increasing use of U.S. Treasury bills as collateral.
Today, about half of stablecoin reserves are held in T-bills, and roughly $90 billion are in money market funds, reinforcing their tight linkage with federal debt markets. As reported by AInvest, this financial symbiosis could have ripple effects across traditional institutions.
Watch BeInCrypto’s report on the incident at Stablecoins Poised to Reach $2 Trillion Market Cap by 2028.
Potential Banking Sector Changes
As the stablecoin market matures, banks may have to compete more aggressively by offering higher interest rates to retain depositors, potentially eroding their profitability. According to CoinTribune, this shift may also alter how financial institutions interact with the Federal Reserve and Treasury markets.
Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick predicts that stablecoin issuers will need to acquire $1.6 trillion in U.S. Treasury bills to back this projected growth. As BeInCrypto explains, that matches the total expected issuance of new T-bills over the same period—making the stablecoin sector a major player in sovereign debt dynamics.
International Implications and U.S. Dollar Dynamics
Bitcoin evangelist Max Keiser has gone so far as to describe stablecoins as a “financial hospice” for fiat currency. In an interview with BeInCrypto, he claimed that their rise signals the death spiral of the dollar, warning that they’ll “work the U.S. dollar to death.”
Meanwhile, Tether—the company behind USDT—is preparing to launch a U.S.-centric stablecoin by 2026, a move covered in depth by CoinTribune. The project is seen as aligning with crypto-friendly policies expected under a potential second Trump administration.
Countries including China, Russia, and Iran could challenge dollar hegemony by issuing stablecoins backed by gold. According to AInvest, these gold-backed alternatives may become tools of monetary resistance in the evolving global economy.
While concerns about inflation, debt, and digital currency threats swirl, some experts see promise. As noted by AInvest, institutional demand for stablecoins could legitimize crypto and deepen blockchain integration into mainstream finance.
