Are stablecoins the new superstars of crypto?

Let me tell you a story…

Fifteen years ago, a guy bought two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin. At the time, Bitcoin was only worth a few cents and crypto was still regarded as an experiment. Today, those pizzas are worth over US$1 billion. The story has become folklore in industry (touted as 'Bitcoin pizza day') and a symbol of just how volatile and unpredictable the world of crypto can be. We all laugh now, but it was also the moment we all started to see crypto as something you could actually spend.

Fast forward to 2025 and the conversation has evolved. Crypto isn't just a speculative asset class anymore; it's becoming a speculative store of value (albeit volatile) and means of exchange. More significantly, and to some maybe even a little boringly, stablecoins have now entered the chat and they might just be the real MVPs of the next financial era - not because they moon; but because they don't move up and down in price. They're already transforming how money flows, how businesses operate and how the global financial system might look in five years' time. 

But before we get to why that matters, let's start at the beginning…

The backstory: what exactly are stablecoins?

Stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to something stable - usually a currency such as the US or NZ dollar. The idea is very simple: 1 stablecoin equals 1 dollar. They're designed to avoid the price volatility we associate with traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

The first ever stablecoin, BitUSD, dropped in 2014 on the BitShares blockchain. It was crypto-backed, using BTS as collateral. Then came Tether (USDT) which was fiat-backed and much more widely adopted. Today, Tether is the biggest stablecoin by market cap and volume.

There are different flavours of stablecoins (fiat-backed or crypto-backed etc.), but the goal is the same: predictable value in a digital format, offering a digital currency option that combines the stability of traditional money with the innovative features of blockchain technology.

(It may sound simple, but this is one of the most disruptive ideas in finance today - more about that later on in this piece). 

Ok, what's driving the hype?

If you've been paying attention, you'll know there's momentum building. Analysts at Citi have predicted that the total value of stablecoins could one day overtake the entire crypto market cap and that isn't just wild optimism but a reflection of what's happening on the ground.

We're already seeing native crypto infrastructure bleed into traditional finance. Circle, the company behind USDC, isn't just 'the USDC issuer' anymore; it's turning into a legitimate payments provider. Meanwhile, Stripe (yes, that Stripe) just launched stablecoin-powered accounts across 101 countries! The rails are being laid and soon, stablecoins might be the default way value moves around the world.

Even regulators, once allergic to anything that has 'coin' in the name, are shifting their tone and the 'pause button' era is over. We're now in a phase of pragmatic guardrails which is a net positive for innovation, for adoption, and for anyone trying to build in this space.

But why are stablecoins winning? What makes them the quiet achievers of crypto?

Simply put, it's their superpowers. (Also, they're close to nailing product-market fit.)

1. They're dull; but that's their genius

Look, let's be honest - stablecoins aren't sexy. No one's YOLO-ing into USDC hoping for a 10x return… but that's exactly the point! In a space driven by speculation, stablecoins offer utility: they allow traders to park their gains (by swapping from crypto into a stablecoin) without the timely and often costly off-ramping to fiat; they're ideal for remittance and payroll and corporate treasury; and they power the DeFi ecosystem without drama. In fact, so much so that yield-bearing stablecoins are now becoming a serious tool for anyone looking to generate steady returns. Forget meme coins folks because this is the retirement fund layer of crypto.

2. They make commerce actually work

Stablecoins also solve a massive problem for physical commerce, i.e. price predictability. It's hard to run a business when the thing you're accepting as payment might double - or halve - in a week (remember the Bitcoin pizza purchase?). 

Stablecoins fix this problem because they give crypto the spending power of fiat with the benefits of digital rails. They're also programmable which means smart contracts and automatic payments simply work ( e.g. a smart contract would  allow you to program conditions that need to be met for certain things to happen such as settlement of a property, or even paying tax or locking it up for a certain timeframe). 

3. They unlock 'borderless' money

Here's where things get really exciting. At Stripe's 2025 Sessions conference, co-founder Patrick Collison didn't mince his words:

"There are not one, but two, gale-force tailwinds... reshaping the economic landscape around us: AI and stablecoins."

Stripe has just rolled out stablecoin-powered financial accounts to businesses in 101 countries which allow companies to hold, receive and send stablecoins and crucially, to hedge against inflation and plug directly into the global economy. All of this without needing a traditional bank account. In a world increasingly run by AI's, programmable stablecoins are the natural currency and could become the financial fuel behind an AI-driven economy.

This isn't theory; this is infrastructure and entrepreneurs in high-inflation countries can now operate in stable, digital USD. What's more, startups can pay contractors in stablecoins, skip wire transfer fees and move capital in minutes via lower-cost cross-border transactions .

This is what we mean by 'programmable money'.

4. They're becoming invisible

Their final superpower is that they 'disappear'. Stripe is also building what it calls 'invisible stablecoin infrastructure' in which users don't see blockchains, wallets or gas fees - they just see dollars. That's the holy grail of adoption - when the tech fades into the background and just works for users. The real kicker is that through a partnership with Visa, stablecoin balances can now be spent at over 150 million merchants globally - in real time, in local currency, via a regular old Visa card. That's crypto, minus the crypto baggage…

So what does it all mean?

Stablecoins are no longer a side plot in the crypto story - they're quickly becoming the default fuel for a global, digital-first economy. Quietly, they're building the connective tissue between banks, blockchains and businesses and while they may lack the hype of other tokens, their strength lies in their utility, stability and scale. 

Back to the question: are stablecoins the new superstars of crypto?

If by superstar you mean indispensable, everywhere and unreasonably reliable then yes, 100%.

The quiet ones usually are…