As regulators refine implementing rules for the GENIUS Act, banks and other financial institutions are preparing for what many consider the future of money: fiat-pegged digital assets known as stablecoins that move around the world in seconds, backed by cash and cash-equivalent assets.

The opportunity is huge for American firms looking for new sources of revenue and to reach new customers. Only the equivalent of about one percent of US GDP, or about $291 billion, is now held in reserves backing stablecoins, with Citigroup predicting the total dollar-denominated stablecoin supply will reach $3.7 trillion by 2030.

But not every nation wants their national economies being further infiltrated by US dollars. Europe, Hong Kong, Nigeria, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and others are all positioning to capture the benefits of bringing their own currencies onchain.

In this report, we’ll examine the state of play in stablecoin development in the US to see who’s forging ahead and who might remain in the pilot stage for years to come.

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Tier-1 Banks

J.P. Morgan

In February 2019 JPMorgan Chase & Co. launched JPM Coin, used to settle transactions between clients of its wholesale payments business. J.P. Morgan revealed JPM Coin (rebranded as Digital Payments) moved an average of $2 billion a day in 2024. 

Earlier this year J.P. Morgan introduced JPMD, a proof-of-concept that for the first time at the bank would tokenize customer deposits on a public blockchain, Base, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain platform built by Coinbase. Though the bank describes the token as an “alternative to stablecoins,” its creation on a public blockchain shows how far institutional interest in the technology has come.

Bank of America

Bank of America has historically been one of the least experimental companies when it comes to exploration of blockchain. So the news quickly spread earlier in 2025 when CEO Brian Moynihan told investors BofA was already working on a stablecoin project and waiting for regulatory clarity before launching. The bank has been quiet about its work, but with its broader digital payments business processing $2.3 trillion annually, a shift towards stablecoins could dramatically increase the overall supply.

A BofA analyst predicted a $75 billion stablecoin market value bump if Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law. Total stablecoin market value was $260 billion the day Trump signed the act, and it’s only increased $40 billion since. As the gap between the current market and the prediction continues to close, the bank is worth watching.

Citigroup

Also among the earliest large banks to explore blockchain solutions, Citi invested in blockchain infrastructure provider, Blockdaemon, in April 2022. It’s been working on stablecoins ever since.

• The following year, Citi launched a pilot called Citi Token Services for Cash to let its institutional clients tokenize their deposits. 
• In July 2024 the bank launched its Integrated Digital Assets Platform to help clients issue and custody tokens.
• That October, Citi’s Token Services pilot emerged into wider availability. 
• In May 2025 the bank announced it was custodying assets for stablecoin issuers. 
• In August 2025 cross-border payment firm Payoneer announced it was using Token Services to tokenize its treasury.  
• This September Citi integrated its Token Services platform with its USD clearing solution, giving 250 banks 24/7 instant payments. 

Citi has yet to announce their own stablecoin, but with regulatory clarity taking hold, the bank maintains some of the deepest experience in tokenization and digital asset deposits to draw from in the global banking industry.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs has emerged as one of the leading global banks bringing financial products onchain, advancing over the past four years from early tokenized repo settlements to digital bond issuance and, most recently, onchain money market fund shares enabling real-time institutional liquidity.

In 2021 Goldman Sachs executed its first tokenized repo transaction demonstrating real-time settlement of cash and collateral between institutional counterparties.

In 2023 Goldman Sachs launched GS DAP, a tokenization platform used by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to pilot tokenized bonds and enable digital issuance and near-instant settlement of bond transactions.

In July 2025, Goldman partnered with BNY Mellon to launch a tokenized money market fund solution using mirror tokens to represent fund shares onchain, while maintaining conventional fund accounting. The initiative marks a key step toward collateral mobility and real-time liquidity across institutional markets for cash-equivalent money market funds.

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Global Asset Managers

Fidelity Investments

The Financial Times in March reported that Fidelity had tested its own stablecoin for inclusion in its US dollar money market fund. In June, Fidelity Digital Assets applied for a national bank charter, a move that would let it custody digital assets and issue stablecoins under federal oversight.

Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary focused on digital-asset custody and trading, already operates under a New York trust charter. Seeking a national charter signals an intent to expand those activities within the OCC’s regulatory framework, following new guidance that allows national banks to hold crypto assets and stablecoin reserves. The step positions Fidelity to bring tokenized cash and payment operations inside the banking perimeter, linking traditional money markets with emerging onchain finance.

BlackRock

BlackRock has positioned itself as a leader in reserve management and tokenized funds, rather than issuing its own stablecoin. In 2022, the world's largest asset manager began managing a portion of Circle’s USDC reserves via the Circle Reserve Fund (USDXX), a registered government money market vehicle.

In 2023, BlackRock tokenized money-market fund shares for use on JPMorgan’s Tokenized Collateral Network, mobilizing fund shares as collateral in near-real time. Then, in 2024, it launched the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) on Ethereum with Securitize, a tokenized cash-equivalent fund that has rapidly become a market leader among tokenized treasuries. By March 2025, BUIDL had surpassed $1B in AUM.

Blackrock CEO Larry Fink has repeatedly framed tokenization (and, by extension, stablecoins) as a “mega-trend” and aligned with Circle’s push for a national trust bank license, highlighting how regulated asset managers can scale digital-dollar infrastructure without directly issuing a stablecoin.

Franklin Templeton

Franklin Templeton has become a leader in dollar-equivalent tokenization, starting in 2021 with the registration of an SEC-registered money market fund designed for blockchain-based recordkeeping. This later evolved into the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX), with BENJI tokens each representing one share. By April 2023, the fund’s assets under management had surpassed $270M, demonstrating real investor demand for tokenized cash equivalents.

In 2024, Franklin Templeton deepened its stablecoin touchpoints by enabling USDC on/off-ramps for the onchain fund, making redemptions and distribution more flexible. In 2025 the firm partnered with DBS and Ripple, allowing accredited investors to trade sgBENJI alongside Ripple’s RLUSD, with plans to recognize tokenized fund shares as eligible collateral.

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Global Payments Networks

Mastercard

In June 2023, Mastercard announced the Multi-Token Network, a “set of foundational capabilities designed to make transactions within digital-asset and blockchain ecosystems secure, scalable, and interoperable.” We learned more about the program in November 2024, when J.P. Morgan integrated its Kinexys Digital Payment platform for settlements, and earlier in 2025, Mastercard integrated Ondo Finance’s Short-Term US Government Treasuries Fund (OUSG).

Since then, Mastercard has expanded the network to support regulated stablecoins such as USDG, USDC, PYUSD, and FIUSD through its participation in the Paxos-led Global Dollar Network, enabling direct minting and redemption by institutions. Together, these integrations position Mastercard to serve as a settlement and interoperability layer for tokenized cash equivalents across public and permissioned blockchains.

Visa‍

In 2023, Visa settled its first transactions using stablecoins, allowing clients to meet settlement obligations in USDC. Then, in April 2025, it partnered with Stripe’s Bridge (a stablecoin orchestration platform) to enable Visa debit-card spending of stablecoins in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile, and disclosed that clients had already settled $225 million in stablecoin volume. 

By mid-2025, Visa expanded its settlement infrastructure to support additional stablecoins including USDG and PYUSD, plus the euro-denominated EURC, while adding new blockchain rails such as Stellar and Avalanche. And in September 2025, Visa launched a stablecoin prefunding pilot via Visa Direct, letting businesses pre-fund cross-border payouts with stablecoins, treated as “money in the bank”, to reduce capital lockup, accelerate settlement, and modernize treasury flows.

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Institutional Fintechs

Broadridge

Also in April, financial services giant Broadridge launched Broadridge Digital Asset Solutions to help compliant financial institutions scale digital asset strategies. The firm that provides proxy voting software expanded into the enterprise blockchain world in 2017 with a $95 million investment, and now transacts an average of $280 billion in repurchase agreements a day on a distributed ledger platform.

Stripe

The fintech giant, better known for providing payment processing software, entered the stablecoin arena in February when it announced it had acquired stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge for a reported $1.1 billion. That spring, the payment firm also applied for a Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter from the state of Georgia and unveiled Stablecoin Financial Accounts in 101 countries.

PayPal

PayPal’s entry into stablecoins reflects its goal to merge digital dollars with the scale of its global payments network. In 2023, it launched PayPal USD (PYUSD), a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company, fully collateralized by cash and short-term Treasuries. The integration of PYUSD across Venmo and PayPal positioned it as the first stablecoin embedded directly into mainstream consumer wallets with millions of global users.

Through 2024, PayPal expanded the use of PYUSD through a partnership with Coinbase, allowing users to buy, sell and transfer PYUSD with no fees, and to redeem the token 1:1 for US dollars through both platforms. PYUSD has allowed PayPal to rapidly turn stablecoins into a native payment medium within its ecosystem.

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Institutional Crypto Companies

BitGo

Founded in 2013, the crypto security firm and custodian formally entered the stablecoin market last September when it introduced USDS (distinct from the DAI successor from Sky Protocol), a stablecoin backed by repurchase agreements and other assets. In March Bitgo announced they’d partnered with World Liberty Financial, to help them build their own stablecoin.

Circle Internet Group

Circle applied for a national bank charter after going public, in June following a successful IPO. Circle has also announced plans to launch its own Layer-1 blockchain, Arc, optimized specifically for stablecoin payments. Instead of paying gas fees in ETH,  SOL, or XRP, gas fees used to power the blockchain will be paid with USDC.

Coinbase Global

In June, J.P. MorganJPMorgan announced it had built its first Proof of Concept deposit token secured by the Ethereum blockchain and built on Base, Coinbase’s fast, privacy enabled layer-2 solution. In August, Coinbase relaunched the Stablecoin Bootstrap Fund it used to help jumpstart Circle, and is now reportedly considering applying for a banking license. 

Paxos

In November 2024, Paxos announced the Global Dollar Network, described as an “open network” that also includes Anchorage Digital, Bullish, Galaxy Digital, Kraken, Nuvei, and Robinhood. Though the network appears to be a team of equals, the native token, USDG, is issued from Singapore by Paxos with bank partners including DBS and Standard Chartered. Though Paxos initially issued PayPal PYUSD it is notably absent from the Global Dollar Network and PayPal is increasingly seen as a rising competitor. Already a trust company based in New York, Paxos in August announced it was pursuing a national trust charter.

Ripple

Long before stablecoins were even a thing, Ripple was there, amassing an estimated $128 billion warchest of its XRP cryptocurrency. So when stablecoins exploded onto the crypto scene Ripple was well positioned to pounce.

• Last December Ripple launched its RLUSD stablecoin.
• In early July 2025 it applied for a national trust charter. 
• Before the month was over Ripple announced that BNY Mellon would custody the USD reserves of its Ripple stablecoin. 
• Then, in August, it announced it would acquire Rail, the stablecoin company that helped construct Ripple’s stablecoin, for $200 million. 
• Though Ripple owns a mind-boggling amount of XRP, as of early October 2025, its stablecoin has a relatively modest $789 million market value, according to CoinMarketCap.

Conclusion

With the GENIUS Act now in effect, US institutions have a clearer runway than ever to bring stablecoins into the financial mainstream. What began as isolated pilots is evolving into a coordinated effort across banks, payment networks, and fintechs to modernize the movement of money.

As compliance frameworks mature, expect the lines between traditional finance and onchain infrastructure to continue to blur. Axelar is the Gateway to Onchain Finance, helping institutions across the US and around the world activate tokenization, trading, and onchain yield opportunities across more blockchains than any other technology provider.

The next chapter will hinge on who can bring innovative new products to market, and who builds the most trusted, scalable systems to distribute digital dollars safely across markets and use cases. Ready to work with Axelar? Submit this form to get in touch with our team and build the future of onchain institutional finance.