When Swift and Visa begin to actively embrace blockchain, how much longer can PSPs' cross-border payment business last?

Chainfeeds Guide:

Global payments are undergoing a transformation, with stablecoins at the core of this revolution. Not only are they reshaping cross-border transactions, but they are also redefining the future of payments.

Source:

Author:

Cobo

Opinion:

Cobo: The total market capitalization of stablecoins has reached $307.124B (approximately 30.71 billions USD), representing a $2.814B (about 2.814 billions USD) increase from last week. Among them, USDT continues to dominate the market, holding a 59.09% market share. USDC follows closely with a market cap of $75.67B (about 7.567 billions USD), accounting for 24.64%. In terms of blockchain network distribution, Ethereum remains the largest platform for stablecoin market capitalization, with a total market cap of $162.294B (about 16.2294 billions USD), representing 52.84% of the entire market. Tron ranks second with a market cap of $78.349B (7.8349 billions USD), accounting for 25.5%. Solana ranks third, with a total market cap of $15.646B (1.5646 billions USD). In addition, the fastest-growing networks in the market this week include crvUSD (up 134%), Global Dollar (USDG, up 25.63%), and Ripple USD (RLUSD, up 6.56%). These figures indicate that the stablecoin market is experiencing rapid growth, and competition among major blockchain networks within the stablecoin ecosystem is becoming increasingly intense. Stablecoin companies are accelerating their compliance strategies, especially as US regulatory policies become clearer. Recently, Bridge (acquired by Stripe), Connectia Trust (a subsidiary of Sony Bank), and Coinbase almost simultaneously announced their applications for a national trust bank charter from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). This move shows that after the passage of the GENIUS Act, applying for a US OCC national trust bank charter has become a strategic choice for stablecoin companies to enter the US market. These licenses not only allow companies to operate legally nationwide but also enable them to become "federal-level stablecoin banks" after the GENIUS Act takes effect, enjoying greater regulatory coordination advantages. However, obtaining such a license does not mean these companies can fully self-custody stablecoin reserves. For example, Circle's trust bank entity (First National Digital Currency Bank) cannot directly hold USDC reserves and must rely on traditional banks such as BNY Mellon and BlackRock to custody funds. Nevertheless, after obtaining a national trust bank charter, stablecoin companies will occupy a more central position in the financial system, enabling closer cooperation with financial institutions such as the Federal Reserve, improving clearing efficiency, and reducing liquidity risks. In recent weeks, Stripe has launched a series of significant new initiatives, demonstrating its transition from a payment service provider to a broader commercial infrastructure provider. Stripe, in collaboration with OpenAI, has launched the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), an open standard designed for AI-driven e-commerce ecosystems. The core goal of ACP is to create a unified protocol that allows seamless collaboration among different AI platforms, merchants, and payment processors. Through ACP, AI agents can generate one-time encrypted tokens (SPT) without exposing real payment credentials, thereby protecting user privacy and reducing compliance burdens for merchants and payment platforms. In addition, Stripe has already partnered with merchants such as Etsy in its instant checkout feature and plans to expand to more brands within the Shopify ecosystem in the future. The strategic significance of Stripe's move lies in its ability to help merchants, platforms, and payment service providers achieve synergy, thereby reducing access costs and accelerating the expansion of transaction networks. The launch of this protocol not only has a profound impact on payment methods in e-commerce but also further consolidates Stripe's position in the fields of AI commerce and payments.