Stablecoins After 2025: The New Standards Shaping 2026

2025 was the year stablecoins moved decisively into the mainstream of global finance. Not because of a single breakthrough or a dramatic crisis, but because the world began to treat them as what they are becoming: an increasingly important part of the financial infrastructure, with real adoption taking hold and a clear path toward broader scale. This shift was gradual, built on years of experimentation, and driven by practical needs rather than speculative momentum.

Stablecoins grew to more than US$240 billion in circulation, with some estimates placing the figure even higher. The market remained highly concentrated and predominantly dollar-denominated, reflecting global demand for dollar liquidity beyond traditional banking access. For policymakers, this scale made stablecoins impossible to ignore. For businesses, it demonstrated that stablecoins were no longer experimental tools, but financial instruments capable of supporting real activity, from payroll and supplier payments to cross-border liquidity management and treasury operations that have long been constrained by fragmented banking systems and high friction.

What evolved in 2025 was not only scale, but function. In earlier years, stablecoins were largely transactional, used primarily by traders, exchanges, and crypto-native participants. In 2025, they increasingly became operational. Multinational companies began using digital dollars to manage liquidity across borders with greater speed, transparency, and predictability. In Latin America, stablecoins gained traction as working-capital tools that helped mitigate volatility, settlement delays, and limited access to correspondent banking. Between Asia and the Americas, they started to serve as connective infrastructure for payroll and payments across financial systems that historically lacked interoperability.

This evolution did not replace the banking system. Instead, it complemented areas where traditional rails have struggled to deliver consistently, particularly speed, clarity, and coordination across jurisdictions. Corporations, often absent from early stablecoin narratives, emerged as some of the most important validators of their practical value. At VelaFi, we observed this shift firsthand as companies moved from limited use cases toward integrating stablecoins into core financial workflows, alongside existing banking relationships.

In 2025, global regulatory progress reached a clear milestone. The United States advanced the GENIUS Act, Hong Kong implemented a comprehensive licensing framework, and Europe completed the first full year of MiCA enforcement. While each jurisdiction followed its own approach, together they reflected a shared position: stablecoins are becoming a recognized component of the financial system, and their use requires clear, workable standards aligned with financial stability and consumer protection.

More importantly, regulation began to provide something the market alone could not fully deliver: certainty. By defining how stablecoins can be issued, backed, redeemed, and supervised, regulatory frameworks created the conditions for financial institutions and enterprises to use stablecoins more openly and confidently. As this clarity emerged, the industry’s focus naturally shifted toward system-building: integration with existing financial infrastructure, operational maturity, risk management, governance, and controls that support long-term use. In this sense, 2025 marked the foundation for a new phase, one in which standards lead, and scale can follow.

Looking ahead, the next chapter for stablecoins will be shaped less by narratives and more by execution. As infrastructure continues to mature and regulatory frameworks evolve, stablecoins are positioned to play a deeper role in payments, treasury management, and cross-border finance, particularly in markets where traditional systems have struggled to keep pace with economic reality and globalized business models.

Stablecoins have demonstrated their practical value. What comes next is the work of building systems capable of supporting trust, longevity, and responsible growth.

As this transformative year comes to a close, I would like to wish all readers of Mexico Business News a wonderful holiday season. May you be surrounded by family, friends, and moments of rest. And may 2026 be a year of progress, opportunity — and, of course, stablecoins.