Citigroup says that stablecoins are a catalyst for blockchain’s ChatGPT moment, setting a revised bull case projection of $4.0 trillion by 2030.
The banking giant acknowledges recent blockchain industry developments, particularly by digital-native companies, citing the strong growth of the stablecoin market in the past six months and the wide range of project announcements, in the U.S. and internationally as its primary motivation for adjusted issuance forecasts.
In its report, “Stablecoins 2030: Web3 to Wall Street” Citigroup sets base case stablecoin market projection to $1.9 trillion — up from $1.6 trillion — and its bull case projection to $4.0 trillion — up from $3.7 trillion.
The $187.97 billion financial services holding company also says that the stablecoin market could support a velocity in payments similar to Fiat, at $100 trillion for base case and $200 trillion for bull case.
Citi believes that crypto will help in reimagining the existing system, rather than burning it down, as banks risk disintermediation by popular predictions.
Stablecoins: leading capital migration
Shahmir Khaliq, Global Head of Services, Citi, believes that capital migration to an instantaneous settlements layer is a natural progression that Citi has already been invested in.
The movement towards using blockchain technology for instantaneous settlement and real-time confirmation is a natural progression towards a 24x7, always-on world and something we have already been investing in. We are focused on integrating and commercializing it with our other client offerings and are excited about the future benefits we will be able to unlock. – Shahmir Khaliq
The report also quotes David Cunningham, Head of Strategy/
Partnerships, Digital Assets, Citi Services, saying that stablecoins issuance volume is up 40% this year as executive orders, the
GENIUS Act, and major platforms remove friction and build confidence in adoption, this is consistent with figures from the leading source for data on real world assets tokenization, RWA.xyz, which shows that stablecoins issuance is up more than $81 billion this year, now at $287.47 billion.
Despite Citigroup’s acknowledgement of stablecoin's role in the future of money, the banking giant believes that bank tokens such as tokenized deposits, deposit tokens and CBDCs will be preferred by corporations and that their transaction volumes will exceed stablecoins.
Citi cites trust, familiarity and regulatory safeguards for bank money as leading factors for its conclusion.