Moody's: Stablecoin Market Exceeds $315.8B, but Near-Term Bank Threat Remains Limited

Gate News message, April 20 — Moody's Investors Service released an analysis indicating that stablecoins have surpassed $300 billion in market value, with DefiLlama data showing the market capitalization at $315.8 billion as of the report date. However, the rating agency said the near-term disruption risk to banks remains limited due to narrow adoption and U.S. regulatory restrictions on yield-bearing products.

Abhi Srivastava, associate vice president of Moody's Digital Economy Group, told Cointelegraph that stablecoin use is expanding across payments, cross-border commerce, and on-chain finance. He noted that USDT dominates the market with a 58.29% share, while Tether Holdings and Circle account for $176.9 billion and $70.4 billion, respectively, highlighting market concentration. Srivastava emphasized that mainstream payment systems remain fast, low-cost, and trusted, limiting stablecoins' immediate competitive advantage in traditional banking.

While Moody's sees limited near-term threats, the agency warned that longer-term growth in stablecoins and tokenized assets could eventually pressure bank deposits and lending capacity if adoption expands beyond crypto-native use cases. Stablecoin activity remains concentrated in crypto trading, cross-border settlement, and decentralized finance rather than household or business cash management.