Growing stablecoin payments and business adoption position Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, Circle and PayPal for a massive shift in global payments. Stablecoins are moving from crypto speculation into real-world financial infrastructure; payments reached $482B year to date, up 45%. Autonomous AI-agent transactions may be the next frontier. x.com 

Ethereum's growing stablecoin base contrasts with ether trading at roughly half its November 2021 price. The network holds $146 billion in stablecoins, up from $83 billion on November 10, 2021. x.com 

ETH and the Ethereum blockchain are both worth exactly zero, because the network cannot have value if the token goes to zero. Replying to @Checkmatey, who says Ethereum can succeed as a settlement layer without value accruing to ETH, that split is logically inconsistent. Ethereum is centralized to a few nodes and stablecoins can be frozen by issuers, so the chain is decentralization theater that could run on a Tether or USDC database, and it is not comparable to settlement on Bitcoin. x.com  … Show more

Crypto's maturation, alongside monetary debasement, should keep the revenue-generating and store-of-value portfolio barbell outperforming. These are its two primary drivers. x.com 

Growing demand for tokenized finance could make XRP, Stellar, Hedera and Chainlink increasingly important as traditional finance moves onchain. PwC reports 822,000 tokenized-asset holders, 10 times the end-2024 level, and 259 million stablecoin holders, up 83%. Over 80% of surveyed investors expect better global reach and round-the-clock market access; 41% of institutional investors say better custody and trading infrastructure would encourage them to invest more. x.com 

ETH's claim to be DeFi's money is weakening as stablecoins become the real unit of account, even on Ethereum. Aave's TVL on Ethereum has shifted from ETH toward stablecoins over the past three years. That undercuts @ryanberckmans's argument that ETH is a store of value accruing value from utility and confidence rather than cash flows. x.com 

Stablecoin issuance looks set to explode, lifting Circle, Ethereum, Solana, Coinbase and Robinhood. Per Bloomberg, Washington is weighing a public-private push of regulated dollar stablecoins overseas to reinforce the dollar and boost short-term Treasury demand. If enacted, issuance could top $500 billion or approach $1 trillion in two to three years. Circle is the likeliest issuer partner, Ethereum and Solana are the main settlement chains, and Coinbase and Robinhood gain as trading platforms. … Show more

Paying network fees in stablecoins on Slush swaps removes another obstacle to Sui's growth. Free peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers were already available; now users can pay fees in the cash-like asset they are using, without first obtaining a different currency. That simplicity matters for both AI agents and users unfamiliar with crypto. x.com 

Ethereum feels weak with no clear catalyst, despite an appealing story of institutional adoption for real utility and infrastructure. The crypto craze may have petered out after about 15 years, and bitter memories of losses from counterparty blowups such as Voyager and FTX may never fade. x.com 

Circle stands to benefit because stablecoins strip out the fees that eat into digital payments. Of 8,605 X subscriptions at $1.00, only $1,595 was paid out, with 30% App Store fees, Stripe card fees and opaque FX rounding (X charges 2 CAD for a $1 price) disappearing along the way. Stablecoins are the future, and banks are already trying to control them through Clarity Act lobbying. Issuers like Circle are preferred over individual networks like Ethereum, since USDC is blockchain-agnostic. x.com  … Show more