The stablecoin learned the "power of boredom" in 2025.

Author: Louis, Trendverse Lab

In the numerous industry dynamics of 2025, Tether's significant increase in gold reserves has undoubtedly sparked widespread discussion— As of the end of the third quarter, Tether's gold reserves have surged from $5.3 billion to $12.9 billion, an increase of 143%, surpassing the official holdings of some countries. At the same time, it has brought in a professional precious metals trading team from HSBC to incorporate gold into a more systematic asset management strategy.

This is not a key event in the stablecoin industry, but it provides a vivid entry point for understanding the overall changes in 2025. This year, the regulatory framework has gradually taken shape, Circle has successfully gone public, and the compliance requirements for stablecoins in the US, Europe, and Hong Kong are becoming clearer. The demand for corporate payments and cross-border settlement is rising in tandem—a series of structural factors are prompting stablecoins to transition from a phase of rapid growth to a role that is closer to financial infrastructure.

It is precisely under this change that a seemingly contradictory phenomenon has emerged: 2025 is the year of the most intensive reshaping of the stablecoin system, yet it is also the year when market discussion has noticeably declined. The heat on social media has faded, but the scale, usage, and institutional demand continue to grow. Thus, a truly worthy question arises: why do stablecoins seem “boring” after undergoing such drastic changes?

This issue also serves as a starting point for reviewing the development trajectory of stablecoins in 2025.

1. 2025: From Expected Enthusiasm to Institutional Implementation, and Then to a Year of Calm Testing

(1) 5 months ago: Expected driving enthusiasm - The market is immersed in the excitement of the “eve of regulatory dividends”

If you are looking for a keyword for the stablecoin market at the beginning of 2025, it must be “expectation.” During the period from January to April, although the regulatory framework has not yet been formally established, the imagination surrounding the formation of the system has been sufficient to push market sentiment to a high point.

The EU has entered a critical phase of the MiCA secondary regulations; the US is frequently releasing draft signals; and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has opened a stablecoin sandbox, revitalizing the Asia-Pacific market. For capital, enterprises, and crypto institutions, these signs collectively point to one conclusion: 2025 will be the year when stablecoins are fully integrated into the mainstream regulatory framework.

The anticipated accumulation has already heated up the market before any real changes occur. The total market value of stablecoins has steadily climbed in the first quarter, with USDC's corporate settlement volume expanding significantly in various regions. The speed of pilot projects in cross-border payments, trade financing, and wallet services is also accelerating. Tether's gold accumulation at the beginning of the year had drawn attention—at that time, it was only $5.3 billion, viewed as a regular adjustment of reserve structure and not deviating from technical understanding.

The density of discussions at that time almost reached its peak: media, research institutions, and social platforms were all engaging in discussions around “regulation is imminent,” “companies are accelerating adoption,” and “stablecoins are entering the next phase.” In an industry that has long relied on sentiment, expectations often arrive earlier and more intensely than reality.

However, what truly changes the trajectory of the industry is not the heat of this stage, but the actual implementation that follows.

(2) May to September: Positive developments intensively land - Regulation, IPO, and reserve upgrades together push stablecoins into the “institutional layer”

Starting in May, the stablecoin industry迎来了今年真正的分水岭. All expectations regarding regulation and institutional entry at the beginning of the year have been rapidly realized in just a few months. Hong Kong was the first to complete the legislation of the “Stablecoin Ordinance,” incorporating capital, liquidity, and redemption requirements into the local regulatory framework.

Shortly thereafter, Circle completed its listing on the New York Stock Exchange in June, raising $1.1 billion, with a market capitalization briefly exceeding $20 billion, becoming the first stablecoin issuer to enter the global capital market; in July, the U.S. officially passed the GENIUS Act, incorporating core provisions such as 1:1 liquidity reserves, monthly audits, and bankruptcy priority into federal law. This marks the first time in the history of stablecoins that the regulatory frameworks of the U.S., Europe, and Hong Kong have nearly simultaneously been implemented, establishing a clear global institutional foundation for the industry.

At the same time, the industry is also undergoing structural adjustments. Tether's reserve strategy has undergone significant changes at this stage: gold holdings rose to 12.9 billion dollars in the third quarter, greatly increasing the proportion of specialized management of non-bond assets; against the backdrop of strengthened regulations and growing institutional demand, its reserves have evolved from a single dollar asset structure towards a direction closer to a “basket of value reserves,” showing a more stable and central bank-like approach to risk management.

In recent months, the market sentiment is no longer driven by expectations like it was at the beginning of the year, but rather a sense of “certainty after landing.” Stablecoins have essentially taken a key step from being a technological product of the crypto industry to becoming a financial infrastructure with legal status and institutional constraints.

And even when the market generally believed that everything had returned to normal, subsequent market fluctuations still reminded people that the implementation of the system does not mean that the industry will be smooth sailing.

(3) October – November: Stress Testing and Decoupling Events – Heat fades, but the foundation becomes more solid.

The de-pegging event on October 11 briefly pulled the market out of its strong downward trend. USDe dipped to $0.60 amid macro sentiment, and then in early November, multiple DeFi liquidity pools experienced a series of imbalances. The slight deviation in stablecoin prices, combined with the pullback of mainstream crypto assets, created a small shock. This was an intense yet typical “on-chain stress test,” verifying the system's ability to withstand pressure in a highly volatile environment.

Unlike the reactions of past years, this time the fluctuations have not evolved into a systemic crisis. The core liquidity pools of USDT and USDC remain stable, institutional funds have not withdrawn, and cross-border payments and corporate settlements have not been substantively affected. Even after the event, the total market capitalization of stablecoins remains stable above $300 billion, and the scale of value flow continues to grow.

At this stage, the market realizes that the regulatory framework, reserve quality, and the “margin of safety” provided by institutional adoption have begun to truly dominate the operating logic of stablecoins, rather than market sentiment itself.

Therefore, the decline in enthusiasm after October is not a recession, but a more mature appearance—stablecoins have entered a phase that does not fluctuate with emotional ups and downs. Discussions have decreased, but usage has become deeper; voices have quieted, but the foundation has become more stable. This is a clear signal that stablecoins are moving towards infrastructure.

2. From Market Value, Reserves to On-Chain Data: The Maturity of Stablecoins is an Established Fact

*Data Source: *Defilama StableCoins

Even setting aside narratives and regulations, it is evident from the data itself that stablecoins have entered a new cycle driven by actual usage and institutional demand. Data from DefiLama indicates that by November 2025, the total market value of stablecoins will remain above $300 billion in the long term, with USDT accounting for over 60% and USDC approximately 24%. This concentration is not a lack of competition, but rather a sign that after regulations are implemented, the market automatically gravitates towards issuers with higher transparency and better reserve quality, which is a typical characteristic of the institutionalization stage.

*Data source: *MacroMicro USDT

To observe the industry's current status more representatively, we take Tether, which has the highest market share, as a reference. According to the latest reserve disclosure from MacroMicro, U.S. Treasury bonds account for over 70% of its asset structure, with a total scale exceeding 135 billion U.S. dollars.

BraveNewCoin's report further points out that Tether has become the 17th largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds globally, surpassing several countries including South Korea. The remaining reserves consist of gold, overnight repurchase agreements, cash, and a small amount of Bitcoin, making its reserve model increasingly resemble a “sovereign-level reserve portfolio,” reflecting a trend in the industry towards a preference for high-quality assets during the institutionalization phase.

*Data Source: *Messari Stablecoins

On-chain data also shows the mature landscape of the stablecoin market. Messari's tracking indicates that in the past year, the on-chain transfer scale of stablecoins exceeded $25 trillion, with the total number of transfers surpassing 3.2 billion and active addresses reaching 1.6 million, with growth rates ranging from 30% to 60%. These increases are not driven by speculation, but rather stem from real scenarios such as cross-chain settlement, exchange settlements, corporate payments, on-chain custody, and cross-border remittances—each category belongs to high-frequency, essential, and sustainable value transfer demands.

*Data source: *Token Terminal

TokenTerminal's data further reveals structural changes: over the past year, Circle's stablecoin transfer volume reached $34.5 trillion, far exceeding other competitors, with Tether following closely at $14.5 trillion. From a weekly trend perspective, on-chain activity significantly increased after September, corresponding to the regulatory rollout and a phase of accelerated enterprise adoption.

At the same time, stablecoins are continuing to penetrate a broader commercial network. Visa, PayPal, and several cross-border payment institutions are continuously expanding stablecoin settlement channels, and enterprise-level APIs and wallet infrastructure are being standardized. Research cited by CoinDesk predicts that by 2030, 5%–10% of global commercial transactions may be conducted on stablecoin rails, corresponding to a scale of $2.1–4.2 trillion. This judgment is no longer limited to speculative models but is based on long-term trends in payment network integration, enterprise adoption curves, reserve transparency, and cross-chain interoperability improvements.

Overall, a clearer industry profile is taking shape: stablecoins are evolving from the underlying modules of the crypto ecosystem to the underlying settlement rails of the global financial system. Its growth increasingly relies less on price volatility and narrative hype, and more on institutions, reserves, safety margins, and value flows across scenarios. This structural change is the most evident signal that stablecoins will enter a mature stage by 2025.

3. How “Low Visibility” Becomes the Biggest Moat for Stablecoins

After a year of regulatory maturation and accelerated adoption by institutions, stablecoins present a markedly different appearance in 2025: they no longer dominate social media, nor do they become the focal point of industry narratives. Discussions have decreased, emotions have cooled, and attention has waned—yet, paradoxically, this helps to clarify a fact: the success of stablecoins today is precisely because they have successfully “become boring.”

This is not irony, but a precise description of its development stage. The reason stablecoins can enter the global financial system is that they have shed their identity as “new technological products” and have become financial tools that do not require repeated explanations or promotions. True infrastructure has never relied on hype, but on stability, predictability, and institutionalized operating models. What stablecoins will achieve by 2025 is precisely this value accumulation.

When an asset retreats from the public stage to the background, its functions become more stable and deeper. Stablecoins are no longer in the spotlight like a new product because their role has shifted from being a “tool of choice” to a “system that exists by default.” Users no longer need to learn how to use them, and businesses no longer hesitate during integration; it occurs as naturally as electricity or bank clearing. The less users are aware that they are using stablecoins, the more it indicates that they have entered the realm of truly mature finance—settlement, clearing, payment, and custody, which are the most basic, critical, and least debatable aspects.

This “boredom” also precisely delineates the boundary between stablecoins and other crypto tracks. In hotspots like AI Agents, re-staking, Memes, and even traditional DeFi, the heat often comes on strong and fades quickly; their existence is highly dependent on emotions, narratives, and imagination. Once user interest wanes, the track may even stall instantly. The path of stablecoins, however, is completely different: by reducing volatility, increasing transparency, and establishing auditing standards, they have honed themselves into an almost irreplaceable underlying tool—becoming a foundational tool that others cannot bypass.

It is precisely because there is no drama that stablecoins can transcend cycles; it is precisely because there is no need for speculation that they can be accepted by enterprise systems, payment networks, cross-border supply chains, and regulatory frameworks. For a financial infrastructure, the greatest success has never been to “spark discussions” but rather to “become un-discussed.”

So, while the outside world may find stablecoins boring, it has actually accomplished the most critical leap: from being a crypto product to becoming part of the global financial infrastructure. Its boredom stems from its success.

4. Hidden Risks and Future Outlook: What Forks Will We Stand At After Stablecoins Mature?

Although stablecoins have entered a institutionalized track by 2025, beneath the surface of robust operation, there are still several invisible risks that cannot be ignored. The core point is that the larger the scale of stablecoins, the greater their correlation with the global macro environment. Under conditions of a declining interest rate cycle and ongoing fiscal pressure in the United States, issuers of stablecoins that hold large amounts of short-term government bonds will see a simultaneous increase in sensitivity to yield, bond prices, and sovereign credit. This means that the risks of stablecoins no longer stem from the blockchain, but partially shift to the traditional financial system—this “risk structure transformation” is an inevitable cost of the institutionalization phase.

Secondly, despite the implementation of the regulatory framework, there is still a lack of unified standards for cross-border use, reserve disclosure, and multi-collateral models globally. Although the systems in the US, Europe, and Hong Kong have taken shape, they are not completely consistent, which means that stablecoins still face different compliance requirements when flowing across jurisdictions, leaving uncertainty for future regulatory coordination. In addition, the pace of CBDC advancement may create medium to long-term competitive pressure on stablecoins, especially in scenarios such as cross-border payments and corporate settlements, where the relationship between central bank digital currencies and stablecoins remains in a dynamic balance of “cooperation, substitution, and coexistence.”

Even so, from a longer-term perspective, stablecoins are facing not growth constraints, but rather the issue of role upgrading. With clearer regulations, deepening enterprise adoption, and standardization of payment networks, stablecoins are gradually evolving from internal tools of the crypto world to underlying interfaces of the global financial system. In the coming years, they may take on more important functions than today: as a dollar alternative path for cross-border trade, as a real-time settlement layer for financial markets, as an efficient channel for corporate cash flow, and even as a new type of “digital dollar” network for global capital flows.

In other words, the future risk of stablecoins does not lie in whether “they can continue to exist,” but rather in “what kind of global infrastructure they will evolve into.” Driven by regulation, technology, and the macro environment, what they face will not be the possibility of disappearing, but rather the responsibilities and constraints that come after expansion. Stablecoins have entered a maturity phase, and their next journey will concern how the global financial system redefines the speed, manner, and boundaries of value flow.

If the trend continues, stablecoins may ultimately become not just a digital shell of the dollar, but the 'mother protocol' of global capital flows, becoming a new unit that is the most universal, profound, and even tacitly accepted in the financial context of the internet era.

V. Conclusion

Stablecoins crossed a key threshold in 2025: shifting from the narrative focus to the underlying system that operates quietly within the financial system. The implementation of regulatory frameworks, the expansion of enterprise-level adoption, and the maturation of reserve structures collectively pushed it from being a “product that needs to be understood” to “a default existing infrastructure.”

It seems boring because its operation no longer relies on emotions, but is supported by systems, transparency, and real demand. This low profile means it is breaking away from the emotional cycles of the cryptocurrency market and entering a stage of alignment with the global financial system.

In an industry constantly pulled by new concepts, short-term trends, and emotional fluctuations, the ability to be “undiscussable” is a rare skill in itself. The value of stablecoins lies not in being stunning, but in being stable; not in noise, but in continuity.

When it is no longer a topic of discussion, it truly begins to take effect - this is the hallmark of maturity and its greatest success.