In a striking milestone for the digital finance industry, stablecoin transactions have officially outpaced those of Visa in the first quarter of 2025, according to Bitwise’s Crypto Market Review. The report, which dubbed Q1 “The Best Worst Quarter in Crypto’s History,” highlights a paradoxical period: while crypto prices fell post-election, adoption and infrastructure progress surged at an unprecedented pace.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan pointed to a “historically positive” quarter on the political and regulatory front. A new pro-crypto U.S. President prioritized digital assets—especially stablecoins—as part of national strategy, while the SEC dropped multiple high-profile crypto lawsuits. Despite this regulatory tailwind, prices across the crypto market dipped after an initial post-election rally.
Yet, the fundamentals tell a more optimistic story. Stablecoin transaction volumes rose over 30%, narrowly surpassing Visa, and their assets under management reached a record $218 billion—now up to $237 billion. “However big you think stablecoin AUM will get, you’re probably thinking too small,” Hougan commented on X. He questioned whether current fundamentals could eventually drive the market to new all-time highs.
The sector’s growth wasn’t limited to stablecoins. Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) rose from $14 billion to $19 billion in Q1, fueled by strong demand for tokenized U.S. Treasuries. At the same time, DeFi projects attracted the second-highest funding levels since Q1 2022, with two of the quarter’s top 10 deals—World Liberty Financial and Ethena—focused on decentralized finance innovation.
Amid this accelerating momentum, stablecoin issuer Circle is making a bold move to challenge legacy financial systems. The company, which manages the $60 billion USDC stablecoin, is launching a global payment network designed to compete directly with Visa and Mastercard. The network, to be unveiled on April 22 at Circle’s headquarters in New York, aims to streamline cross-border payments and serve banks, fintechs, and remittance providers worldwide.
This strategic expansion marks a return to Circle’s origins in payments, where it once promoted Bitcoin through its CirclePay app. With stablecoins now mainstream and user adoption up more than 50% year-over-year (according to research from Artemis and Dune), Circle is well-positioned to redefine how money moves globally.
However, stablecoins’ dominance—particularly dollar-pegged tokens like USDC and Tether’s USDT—has drawn scrutiny abroad. The European Union has voiced concern that these assets, now holding over $220 billion of the sector’s total $233 billion market cap, could siphon funds from traditional banks and destabilize local financial systems.
As the lines between traditional finance and digital assets continue to blur, the question is no longer whether stablecoins are here to stay—but how far they’ll go.
