The stablecoin market is thriving, and the global regulatory landscape is gradually taking shape.

In recent years, the stablecoin market has shown rapid development. Currently, the global market value of stablecoins has reached $243.8 billion, with a total trading volume of $33.4 trillion in the past 12 months, and a total of 5.8 billion transactions, with 250 million active unique addresses. These figures fully reflect the widespread demand for stablecoin applications and the increasingly mature application logic.

However, at the regulatory level, stablecoins are still in the adjustment phase. Recently, the U.S. Senate voted to pass the "Guiding and Promoting American Stablecoin Innovation Act" (GENIUS Act ), clearing obstacles for global stablecoin regulation once again.

Current Development Status of the Stablecoin Market

Stablecoins, as cryptocurrency assets pegged to underlying assets such as fiat currencies and precious metals, aim to eliminate the high volatility of cryptocurrencies, providing users with reliable settlement, value storage, and investment tools. Since 2017, the total circulation of stablecoins globally has grown from less than $1 billion to nearly $250 billion, reflecting a significant expansion of the overall cryptocurrency market.

This round of the bull market can be seen as a bull market for stablecoins. After the FTX incident, the global supply of stablecoins fell from 190 billion to a low of 120 billion, but then grew steadily. The continuous increase in the supply of stablecoins over 18 months corresponds with the rise of Bitcoin's price from $17,500 to above $100,000. This is mainly due to external institutions intervening in the market through stablecoins, bringing in increased external liquidity.

Currently, there is a wide variety of stablecoins, which can be classified according to dimensions such as control center, fiat currency type, whether interest is accrued, and collateral. Unlike other use cases, stablecoins serve as a core pricing tool, are not used for speculation, and are often without official institutional restrictions, making them suitable for global adoption and laying the foundation for becoming a global currency.

In terms of regional coverage, in addition to mainstream areas such as Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea, emerging markets like Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey have also started to use stablecoins for daily transactions. A report released by a payment platform last year showed that the most popular use of stablecoins in non-crypto fields is as a currency substitute (69%), followed by paying for goods and services (39%) and cross-border payments (39%).

The stablecoin market shows a clear head effect. USD stablecoins account for 99% of the market share. Among them, USDT has a market share of 152 billion USD, accounting for 62.29%; USDC has a market size of about 60.3 billion USD, accounting for 24.71%. Together, these two account for over 80% of the total market. USDe ranks third with a unique mechanism and high yield, with a market size of 4.9 billion USD.

From the perspective of public chains, Ethereum occupies an absolute dominant position with a market share of 50%, followed by Tron(31.36%), Solana(4.85%), and BSC(4.15%).

Global Stablecoin Regulatory Landscape

With the rapid development of the stablecoin market, global regulation is also accelerating. Currently, the United States, the European Union, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, and other regions have started or completed the legislation of stablecoin regulatory frameworks.

Progress on U.S. stablecoin regulation

As a global cryptocurrency hub, the regulation of stablecoins in the United States has attracted much attention. As early as February, the U.S. House of Representatives submitted the "2025 Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability Promotion Ledger Economy Act" (STABLE) draft. At the same time, the Senate also proposed the "Guiding and Establishing the U.S. National Stablecoin Innovation Act" (GENIUS).

The concentration of these two bills originated from high-level support. At the first cryptocurrency summit held by the White House in March this year, Trump expressed strong interest in stablecoins, calling them a "promising" growth model, and hoped that Congress could submit the relevant legislation to the President's office before the August recess.

The STABLE and GENIUS acts have slightly different focuses. STABLE prioritizes federal unified control, while GENIUS places more emphasis on establishing a parallel dual regulatory system at the state and federal levels. STABLE limits issuance eligibility to insured depository institutions and federally approved non-bank entities, whereas GENIUS allows for more types of issuing entities. Both require a 1:1 reserve backing and monthly disclosures, but STABLE has stricter requirements.

The GENIUS Act is currently making faster progress. On May 19, the U.S. Senate passed the procedural motion for the bill with a vote of 66 in favor and 32 against, clearing the way for final legislation. The next step will be to enter the full Senate debate and amendment process, followed by consideration in the House of Representatives. Given the lower threshold for passage in the House, the bill is expected to ultimately be submitted to the President's office for signature to become formal law.

The passage of the GENIUS Act will fill the regulatory gap for stablecoins in the United States, clarifying the regulatory entities and rules, further promoting the development of the U.S. stablecoin industry, and adding momentum to the mainstreaming of the cryptocurrency sector. From the U.S. perspective, this will also strengthen the influence of the dollar through the deep penetration of stablecoins, reinforcing the trend of the cryptocurrency market as an affiliate of the dollar. It is worth noting that any legislation requires stablecoin holders to hold U.S. Treasury bonds, dollars, etc., creating a new and sustained demand for U.S. debt.

EU and other regions stablecoin regulation

The European Union launched the crypto asset market ( MiCA ) bill even before the United States, providing a comprehensive regulatory framework for all crypto assets, including stablecoins. MiCA categorizes stablecoins into asset-referenced tokens and electronic money tokens, prohibits algorithmic stablecoins, and requires issuers to maintain a 1:1 capital reserve, comply with transparency rules, and register with EU regulatory authorities.

Hong Kong submitted the "Stablecoin Regulation Draft" in December 2024, and the second reading debate is expected to resume in the Legislative Council meeting on May 21. Hong Kong adopts a prudent and inclusive approach towards stablecoins, implementing a licensing system that requires issuers to be established in Hong Kong with sufficient financial resources and liquid assets, to pay a minimum capital of 25 million HKD, and to ensure that reserve assets are separated from other assets, with the market value of reserve assets being equivalent to the face value of circulating stablecoins.

In addition, Singapore released a stablecoin regulatory framework in 2023, while Dubai included stablecoins in the Payment Token Services Regulation.

Overall, there are limited differences in global stablecoin regulation, which focuses on licensing to regulate issuers and has clear provisions on reserve issuance, risk segregation, anti-money laundering, and counter-terrorism. The differences mainly lie in the allowed categories of stablecoins, restrictions on issuers, and localized anti-money laundering compliance.

Major regions around the world have successively introduced stablecoin regulations, reflecting that the role of stablecoins in the global financial market is transitioning from being neglected to a diverse competition. Stablecoins are gradually becoming an important part of the global currency market, enhancing the voice of the crypto market and adding significant value to killer applications in the crypto field. At the same time, third-world countries are using stablecoins for 24-hour global settlements, achieving the vision of decentralized electronic cash to some extent.