2026 Predictions: Stablecoins – from payment rails to institutional liquidity engines

This is an excerpt from our latest report: Zodia Custody 2026 predictions. Download the full report now to find out what next year holds for institutional digital asset custody.

Why now?

Stablecoin adoption is accelerating
The total value of issued stablecoins has doubled to $250 billion today from $120 billion 18 months ago, and it is forecast to reach more than $400 billion by year-end and $2 trillion by 2028. These facilitate $20 billion to $30 billion of real on-chain payment transactions per day, split between remittances and settlements¹. Though still under 1% of global transfer volumes, stablecoins are seeing rising adoption driven by real-world utility and tangible benefits.

Regulatory clarity is unlocking participation
New frameworks – from the U.S. GENIUS Act and Hong Kong’s stablecoin licensing regime to Singapore’s MAS SCS guidance and the EU’s MiCA regulation – now set explicit standards for reserve backing, custody, governance, and disclosure. Together, these materially lower compliance barriers for banks and asset managers.

Public and private innovation are converging
Governments across Asia, Europe, and Latin America are piloting CBDCs and domestic stablecoins, while commercial banks and fintechs are issuing regulated fiat-backed tokens to reduce FX exposure and enable 24/7 programmable payments. These models are bringing policy oversight and private-sector efficiency into alignment – the key to institutional scale.

Institutional impact

Stablecoins are emerging as a core pillar of institutional finance, combining the stability of cash with the utility of blockchain.

• Liquidity efficiency: On-chain settlement eliminates T+1 delays and counterparty risk, enabling near-instant global transfers and real-time reconciliation.
• Capital optimisation: Stablecoins transform idle cash into productive assets, easily posted as collateral, converted into tokenised money market funds, or deployed into regulated yield programs.
• Programmability & automation: Smart contracts allow automated treasury sweeps, recurring payments, and multi-party settlements, freeing treasury teams from manual reconciliation and improving liquidity forecasting.
• Transparency & compliance: Blockchain-based auditability and custodial attestations enable continuous proof of reserves and regulatory reporting.

The result: stablecoins are becoming the foundation of institutional cash and liquidity management – not for efficiency, but for competitive advantage. Early adopters are already re-engineering treasury workflows to integrate stablecoin rails into their core financial operations.

“Stablecoins are no longer a crypto convenience, they’re the connective tissue of institutional finance. For banks, asset managers, and corporates, they offer what legacy systems can’t: real-time liquidity, programmable control, and transparent backing. Zodia’s mission is to make that innovation safe, compliant, and usable at institutional scale.”

Kelly Lai, Head of Product Innovation & Advisory

Zodia in action

Zodia makes stablecoins safe, usable, and scalable for institutions. We provide the custody, connectivity, and yield infrastructure that transforms stablecoins from static balances into dynamic financial tools.

What Zodia delivers today:

• 24/7 withdrawals from cold storage to enable T+0 settlement.
• Yield on stablecoin balances via discretionary institutional reward programs, with custody fees waived.
• Ability to pledge stablecoins as collateral on Interchange while continuing to have the potential to earn rewards.
• Deployment into tokenised money market funds and other yield-bearing instruments.
• Connected infrastructure for issuance, custody, and distribution of stablecoins across regulated jurisdictions.

A trusted custodian ensures compliance, segregation, and operational scalability across jurisdictions. Secure key management, independent attestation, and transparent reserve reporting are what make programmable money safe at scale.

What’s next:

• Permissioned DeFi access for stablecoin yield opportunities.
• In-platform stablecoin to crypto swaps via venue integrations.
• Direct connections to self-custody platforms for day-to-day sweeping into cold storage.
• Expansion of issuer partnerships and global stablecoin coverage.

 

This is an excerpt from our latest report: Zodia Custody 2026 predictions. Download the full report now to find out what next year holds for institutional digital asset custody.