Cobo Stable Weekly NO.7: An Underrated Bet: Stablecoins as Native Infrastructure for AI Agents
The Overlooked Rails for the Coming AI Economy.
Global payments are undergoing a revolution, and stablecoins are at the heart of this transformation. They're not just reshaping how money moves across borders—they're completely redefining what payments can be. Cobo stands at the cutting edge of this shift, building the full-stack infrastructure that powers next-gen stablecoin solutions: from secure wallet tech to risk control and compliance and yield-generating options that actually make your money work.
Go with Cobo, and you can zero in on building cool stuff and growing your user base, while surfing the stablecoin revolution without the infrastructure headaches.
Stablecoins aren’t just surviving—they’re scaling. From Argentina’s inflation workarounds to DeFi rails to Instagram tips, digital dollars are quietly becoming the internet’s default money.
Now the shift is accelerating on two fronts: grassroots adoption continues to grow, while Stripe, Visa, and BlackRock are building stablecoin support into their core products. Bottom-up meets top-down.
Meta wants creators and users to transact entirely inside its platform. Tether is building peer-to-peer networks for humans and AI agents alike. Two different visions, same conclusion: stablecoins aren’t new currencies—they’re new interfaces.
The money’s programmable. The stack is shifting. What gets built next might not look like banking at all.
Market Overview and Growth Highlights
Stablecoin Total Market Cap Reaches $242.548B
The total stablecoin market capitalization has reached $242.548 billion, reflecting a week-over-week growth of $3.21 billion. In terms of market share, USDT continues to dominate with a 62.39% share, followed by USDC, which holds the second position with a market cap of $60.132 billion (24.79% share).
Growth Highlights
Top 3 Fastest-Growing Stablecoins (Weekly):
OpenDollar USDO(USDO):
Growth: $49.44M (+30.6%)USDD(USDD):
Growth: $43.14M (+13.62%)Dai(DAI):
Growth:$356.47M(+8.56%)
Blockchain Network Distribution
Top 3 Networks by Stablecoin Market Cap:
Ethereum: $122.52B
Tron: $74.22B
Solana: $11.92B
Top 3 Fastest-Growing Networks (Weekly):
Hyperliquid: Growth: +31.42% (USDC dominance: 97.91%)
Sei: Growth: +25.53% (USDC dominance: 83.55%)
Unichain: Growth: +25.11% (USDC dominance: 56.29%)
Data Source: defillama
🎯 From Likes to Ledger: Meta Turns to Stablecoins for Creators
Meta is quietly returning to the crypto payments space, but with a completely different approach and direction.
Fortune reports Meta is quietly meeting with crypto firms to build a stablecoin payment system for Instagram creators. What's fascinating here isn't that they're doing it—it's how radically different their approach is this time around.
Gone is the "we're creating a global currency" hubris. Now they're solving a single, concrete problem: how to efficiently pay creators across borders. Stablecoins are perfect for this—they're cheap, instant, and don't sleep on weekends like banks do.
The ingenious part isn't the technology, it's the closed loop they're building. If Instagram eventually supports stablecoin tipping, advertising, and shopping, they'll create a mini-economy where money stays in the system: Meta pays creators in stablecoins, creators use those same coins for promotions or tipping others, and the value keeps circulating within Meta's walled garden. It's brilliant.
The real-world cash-out problem remains, but stablecoin debit cards through Visa/Mastercard networks offer an elegant workaround. Creators wouldn't even need to convert to fiat—just swipe and spend.
This isn't about building the future of global finance anymore. It's about making Meta's platforms stickier and increasing their cut of the creator economy. They've found a much smarter product-market fit for stablecoins: not as a revolutionary payment system, but as the quiet infrastructure that keeps value contained within their ecosystem.
Elizabeth Warren is already raising alarm bells in her stablecoin bill, specifically naming Meta. But this measured approach—focused on creator payments rather than replacing the dollar—might just thread the regulatory needle.
Meta may have stumbled upon the only viable path forward for big tech in crypto: keep it simple, solve real problems, and build your moat one transaction at a time.
🎯 AI's Money Problem
The AI race is in full swing. We're all gawking at these models writing essays and code and handling customer service calls, but there's a fundamental question nobody's talking about: how will AI agents actually participate in the economy?
Simply put, how will they pay and get paid?
If AI agents are going to be economic actors at scale—and they will be—they won't be using traditional banks. They'll need payment rails built for their tempo: high-frequency, instant, automated, minimal trust overhead.
This is the overlooked battlefield that Stripe and Tether have both quietly entered.
Two companies that couldn't be more different—the world's premier payment processor and the largest stablecoin issuer—yet they've spotted the same opportunity. Traditional payment systems are laughably inadequate for AI agents. Blockchain and stablecoins, with their programmability and borderless nature, are the obvious foundation for an AI-driven economy.
Stripe is taking the evolutionary approach: building on compliant payment networks, adding USDC support, and wrapping it all with AI risk models and elegant APIs so businesses can simply flip a switch to enable on-chain payments. It's clean, solid, and works with what exists today.
Tether is going revolutionary with QVAC—an open-source AI platform with native USDT and Bitcoin support, integrated with decentralized communication tools like Keet. They're building for a world where AI agents operate in a peer-to-peer network without intermediaries. Censorship-resistant, trustless, autonomous.
Different paths, same destination: creating the payment layer for an economy run by machines.
The AI economy will probably emerge before most people even notice it's happening. And while everyone else is distracted by chatbots writing poetry, a few companies are already building the financial plumbing it will run on.
🎯 Offshore Innovation to Regulatory Embrace: The Signal Behind Anchorage's Mountain Acquisition
Anchorage Digital—America's only OCC-licensed digital asset bank—just acquired Mountain Protocol, pocketing their Bermuda stablecoin license. This isn't mere expansion; it's a signal: the stablecoin industry is shifting from "offshore experimentation" to "compliant coexistence."
Bermuda and similar offshore zones have long been fertile ground for innovative testing. Anchorage's acquisition proves this model can merge with U.S. federal regulatory frameworks, creating a seamless pipeline from product development to mainstream market adoption. Meanwhile, new OCC rules explicitly allow regulated banks to buy, sell, and custody digital assets—meaning stablecoins are no longer just regulatory gray-zone experiments, but an asset class banks can hold and funds can allocate.
This case explores the stablecoin industry's emerging playbook: first explore new products through offshore innovation, then access traditional systems through regulatory compliance. This time, the stablecoin industry hasn't just found a breakthrough—it's building legitimate financial credibility.
Market Adoption
🌱 The crypto payment cards are making more moves: Hong Kong-based RedotPay has just launched its crypto payment cards—both virtual and physical—in South Korea, letting users spend their digital dosh anywhere Visa is accepted. These cards support real-time stablecoin transactions, with the virtual version costing a tenner ($10) and the physical one setting you back $100, all with pretty low verification hurdles. RedotPay claims they've already got over 4 million users worldwide, and by rolling out these easy-to-use crypto and stablecoin payment options in Korea, they're definitely pushing digital assets further into everyday shopping.
🌱 The Dubai government is teaming up with Crypto. com, which means folks and businesses there will soon be able to pay for government services using their Crypto.com digital wallets, with the crypto automatically zapped into Dirhams. This move is a big play in Dubai's strategy to go cashless and is tipped to pump at least an extra 8.2 billion Dirhams (that's about $2.2 billion USD) into the economy each year. Crypto.com has already bagged its license from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), joining other big names like Binance and OKX in getting the official nod. By bringing crypto payments into government services, Dubai is seriously cementing its status as a Middle Eastern crypto hub and giving mainstream crypto adoption a massive shove forward.
🌱 MoonPay and Mastercard are teaming up to let you splash your stablecoins at over 150 million spots worldwide where Mastercard is accepted. This is a pretty big leap for digital dollars in the real world, meaning users of "all crypto wallets" can snag a virtual Mastercard linked straight to their stablecoin stash – no more annoying crypto-to-fiat conversions before you shop. Essentially, it builds a direct bridge from your crypto holdings to everyday spending, making stablecoins way more useful and smoothing out the whole process. This move signals a major step towards mainstream crypto adoption within the existing payment rails, all while playing nice with regulations.
🌱 Bhutan Becomes First Country to Accept Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Tourism Payments via Binance Pay
Big Picture
🔮 PayPal's digital currency head, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, speaking at Consensus 2025, basically said that for stablecoins to truly take off, banks need to jump into the crypto pool, providing the essential plumbing from custody to fiat gateways. Echoing this, MoneyGram's CEO, Anthony Soohoo, is betting that upcoming US stablecoin regulations will be a "major breakthrough," boosting trust and adoption, likely leading to a wave of new issuers before the market settles. It's clear stablecoins are already flexing their muscles in high-inflation regions for savings and cross-border payments—MoneyGram itself is helping folks convert digital dollars to cash—while businesses are eyeing them for treasury management. With the stablecoin scene already at $230 billion, the big picture is that once regulations clear up and banks step in, stablecoins could really break out of their crypto-native shell and hit utility-driven, trillion-dollar scale.
🔮 Deutsche Bank is predicting stablecoins will hit mainstream adoption this year (2025), even with some grumbling in the U.S. Senate recently, as the Trump administration pushes forward with landmark crypto regulations. The stablecoin market has absolutely exploded, ballooning from $20 billion in 2020 to a staggering $246 billion now—with USDT making up about $150 billion of that—and these tokens now power over two-thirds of all crypto trades. With legislative efforts like the GENIUS Act aiming for federal oversight on big stablecoins and the STABLE Act pushing for state-level frameworks, it's clear these digital dollars are becoming strategic assets, reinforcing USD dominance and even making issuers like Tether major holders of U.S. Treasuries.
🔮 Coinbase's latest Q1 earnings didn't quite hit the mark, with revenue at $2.03 billion and a 19% dip in trading income, but don't count them out just yet. Their USDC stablecoin balances saw some serious growth, hinting at the big potential in their payments game, and they're doubling down on infrastructure by snapping up derivatives exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion—a move analysts think will beef up their long-term muscle in crypto payments. Even with trading taking a hit, Coinbase is smartly diversifying into stablecoin services, custody, and trading tech, creating a buffer against market swings. Essentially, they're morphing from just a crypto exchange into a full-blown payment infrastructure powerhouse, a crucial pivot for leading the crypto payment charge down the line.
🔮 BitGo's stablecoin chief Ben Reynolds reports banks are now pursuing 'Stablecoin-as-a-Service' not from crypto enthusiasm but fear of deposit loss to crypto competitors. Yield-bearing stablecoins are gaining popularity for efficient collateral movement among DAOs, protocols, and institutional investors. With the market at $230 billion, regulation will determine whether they're classified as tokenized treasury funds or distinct stablecoins. Banks' defensive entry demonstrates how digital dollars are eroding traditional deposits while adding programmable flexibility to financial infrastructure."
🔮 Word from Consensus 2025 is that stablecoins are on the verge of becoming a cornerstone of global payment systems, according to Ripple's SVP of Stablecoins, Jack McDonald, and Kraken's Head of Global Consumer Business, Mark Greenberg. Both execs highlighted how stablecoins are already shaking up cross-border payments, offering a slicker alternative to the often clunky and fragmented traditional financial plumbing. While the future might include cool yield-bearing stablecoin products, regulatory hurdles are still a big question mark shaping their long-term path. The bottom line is, with both crypto natives and traditional finance players seeing eye-to-eye on their importance, stablecoins are clearly evolving from just crypto assets into an essential infrastructure for solving real-world payment headaches, breaking out well beyond the crypto bubble.
🔮 The banking giant Citi is looking into its crystal ball and seeing a big future for stablecoins, predicting they'll break out of just crypto trading and become a real part of the mainstream economy. They're forecasting the stablecoin market could hit a massive $1.6 to $3.7 trillion by 2030 if the regulatory winds blow favorably. We're already seeing stablecoins, currently a $240 billion market dominated by Tether and Circle, shift from being just settlement tools to actual payment methods, especially for things like cross-border transfers and merchant payments. If Citi's right, this move into the mainstream could totally shake up the payment world, potentially becoming a new backbone for international money markets and giving traditional currency methods a serious run for their money.
Capital Moves
💰 Ripple is reportedly eyeing a massive acquisition, with sources claiming they've put in a bid of $4 billion to $5 billion for Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin. Adding to the buzz, just last week on May 9th, USDC saw a significant $200 million injection, with $100 million minted by an unknown wallet on the Algorand chain and another $100 million minted by the USDC Treasury itself. This flurry of activity, combining a major acquisition rumor with substantial new minting, is definitely cranking up speculation about serious consolidation in the stablecoin market and what the future competitive landscape might look like.
💰 Anchorage Digital, the only federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S. (thanks to its OCC license), is acquiring Mountain Protocol, the issuer of the yield-bearing stablecoin USDM. This deal, still pending regulatory thumbs-up, will see Anchorage integrate Mountain's tech, team, and its digital asset business license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority. This is a fascinating mashup of regulatory worlds: Anchorage might use its top-tier U.S. federal bank charter to give Mountain's offerings a compliant path into the American market, while Mountain's Bermuda license keeps the door open for international ops. This blend of leveraging an innovation-friendly offshore license to develop products and then bringing them into the U.S. institutional market via federal oversight could be the new playbook for crypto firms looking to navigate the regulatory maze.
💰 Coinbase just invested an undisclosed sum in Canadian stablecoin issuer Stablecorp and are set to help promote its fiat-backed stablecoin, QCAD. Coinbase Canada's CEO, Lucas Matheson, pointed out Canada's lack of a solid peer-to-peer payment system and the hefty $45 cost of clunky wire transfers, highlighting how stablecoins could offer 24/7, instant, borderless payments. Even though the global stablecoin market is a whopping $245 billion, QCAD's circulation is currently tiny at about $175,000, prompting Matheson to call for a national digital asset strategy that treats stablecoins as payment tools, not securities. This investment signals that major exchanges are eyeing regional stablecoin markets, with Coinbase pushing for regulatory clarity in Canada to grow the local stablecoin scene, even as figures like new Prime Minister Mark Carney have been historically critical of crypto.
Regulation & Compliance
🏛️ The revised GENIUS Act (S.1582) is looking to cast a wider net, aiming to bring foreign stablecoin issuers like Tether under U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) rules if they serve American users, no matter where they're based. The bill broadens the definition of "digital asset service provider" to include developers, validators, and even self-custody wallets, meaning they'd all need to get serious about AML compliance. While this might actually be a mixed bag—potentially even good for Tether by providing a clearer regulatory path—it's definitely throwing up some red flags for the DeFi space. If this thing passes, expect much tighter U.S. grip on the global stablecoin scene, especially for major players, and a potentially seismic shift in how DeFi operates.
🏛️ Wyoming is gearing up to launch the first-ever state-issued stablecoin in the U.S., with the Wyoming Stable Token Commission tapping analytics firm Inca Digital to help monitor and squash fraud risks. This pioneering stablecoin is slated to roll out this July, marking a significant leap for state governments into the crypto issuance arena. This move is set to blaze a trail for other U.S. government bodies, offering a model for how states can drive both cryptocurrency innovation and regulation.
🏛️ The Senate’s GENIUS stablecoin bill is set for a vote next week, with Trump advisors pushing for passage before the August recess despite prior failures. The latest draft includes stricter rules for non-financial public companies but exempts private entities like X and TikTok, raising concerns about regulatory loopholes. Democrats remain opposed, citing Trump’s crypto conflicts of interest, especially after MGX announced plans to acquire Binance shares via USD1 stablecoins issued by Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. While bipartisan support grows, the bill underscores tensions between political agendas and regulatory goals, as stablecoins are seen as critical to preserving the dollar’s global dominance.
🏛️ US Commerce Secretary's Son Brandon Lutnick Claims He Personally Verified Tether's Reserves
New Launches
👀 Tether is stepping into the AI game with QVAC (Quantum Universal Automatic Computer), a new decentralized AI development platform. The big idea here is to let AI models and apps run entirely on user devices, ditching the cloud to keep your data private and in your control. QVAC is built with a modular, peer-to-peer architecture that can scale up to trillions of AI agents, and get this—it'll even allow these AI agents to autonomously trade Bitcoin and USDT using Tether's WDK, aiming for a decentralized, self-sustaining AI ecosystem. They're also gearing up to drop the first QVAC apps, like a cloud-free local translation tool (QVAC/Translate) and a private health tracker (QVAC/Health), with plans to open-source the software development kit.
👀 The asset management giant VanEck, with $120 billion under its belt, is diving headfirst into tokenization, teaming up with Securitize to launch $VBILL, its first tokenized U.S. Treasury fund. This isn't just a single-chain play; $VBILL is already live on Ethereum, Avalanche, Solana, and BNB Chain, with Wormhole enabling cross-chain action, offering investors 24/7 on-chain access to short-term U.S. Treasuries with real-time settlement. The fund supports round-the-clock deposits via Circle's USDC and boasts atomic liquidity with Agora's AUSD, allowing one-step redemption via smart contracts. This move signals a major acceleration by traditional finance titans into tokenized real-world assets, with VanEck joining the ranks of BlackRock and Franklin Templeton in supercharging on-chain liquidity for fixed-income products like U.S. Treasuries.
👀 Bakkt is pivoting hard, aiming to become a crypto infrastructure provider with a laser focus on stablecoins and global payments. They're teaming up with DTR, who will be bringing AI and payment support to the table, with new goodies like merchant checkout plugins and white-label AI plugins expected to drop around Q3 2025. Despite a revenue dip, Bakkt is banking on stablecoins and AI-powered financial tools to fuel its growth, positioning itself as a future leader in programmable money and agentive commerce. This whole strategic shuffle and the DTR collab could seriously boost stablecoin use in global payments and speed up the market grab for programmable financial products.
👀 Squads just rolled out "Altitude," a business-grade, native USDC dollar account built on Solana, designed to let companies worldwide open a dollar account with just a few clicks. This isn't just any account; Altitude, built on the Squads Protocol, boasts 24/7 USD liquidity, competitive yields, and code-enforced security, supporting transfers via ACH, wire, SEPA, and stablecoins, plus it throws in asset trading and invoice tracking. With a fresh strategic investment from Haun Ventures, Squads is hitting the gas on Altitude's expansion and pushing stablecoin integration across its products, aiming to build a stablecoin-native OS to replace traditional banking infrastructure. This move is a big deal because it brings stablecoin-native financial infrastructure directly to global businesses, smashing the limits of old-school banking and laying the groundwork for a new financial stack where value flows freely.
👀 Global Dollar Network, founded by Paxos, Robinhood and others, adds 19 new members to grow adoption of its Solana-based USDG stablecoin
👀 Ondo Finance Partners with TruBit Global to Introduce $USDY Stablecoin to Latin American Market
👀 Tether Enables Zero-Fee USDT Transfers, Launches USDT0 on Eco Routes and Hyperliquid With $140B Liquidity