This setback is notable because it goes against Wall Street banks’ bullish outlook on stablecoin growth. Last year, World Bank City revised its 2030 stablecoin growth forecast upward from $1.6 trillion and $3.7 trillion, respectively, to $1.9 trillion in the base case and $4 trillion in the bull case. Standard Chartered predicted the market would be worth $2 trillion by 2028.
This decline also has broader implications for the crypto market. Major stablecoins are widely used as quote currencies for cryptocurrency transactions and are increasingly used for payments and settlements, and changes in their supply are closely monitored as a measure of liquidity flowing into or out of digital assets.
Nothing could be better than the crypto winter of 2022
This backlash may seem dramatic, but it is modest by historical standards.
A similar pullback occurred between December 2025 and February 2026, with stablecoin supply decreasing by about $9 billion before rebounding to a new record. That coincided with a major correction in cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin plummeting from around $95,000 to $60,000.
After more than doubling in size in two years, the stablecoin market has largely stalled at around $300 billion since October (the same time Bitcoin hit a record $126,000).
The 2022 bear market, which featured massive collapses of crypto exchange FTX and financiers Celsius, BlockFi, Genesis, and others, was much tougher on stablecoins.
