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Historically, cryptocurrencies were excluded from It urged lawmakers, who are currently considering
underwriting criteria for any number of reasons, legislation that would erect regulatory guardrails around
including volatility, the inability to easily verify assets stablecoins, to make sure that any guardrails adopted
and regulatory uncertainty. do not lead to negative economic consequences for its
members.
Today, numerous regulatory agencies have jurisdiction
over cryptocurrencies. The Securities and Exchange Stablecoins transformative
Commission, for example, regulates those it considers The propensity for problems aside, stablecoins are
investment contracts. becoming increasingly mainstream.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates Zach Abrams, co-founder of stablecoin platform Bridge,
those that are considered commodities, like bitcoin. Even had this to say following the company's acquisition by the
some states have a say. New York businesses involved payments platform Stripe: "Stablecoins aren't the future
with cryptocurrencies, for example, require special state- – they're already transforming how people move money
issued licenses. today."
It's not just a domestic issue either. The Financial Action In a May 20 interview broadcast by CNBC, Abrams
Task Force, which leads global action against money equated the attraction to and growth of stablecoins to the
laundering and terrorist financing warned on June 26 that 20th century rise of credit cards. "We think stablecoins are
some countries aren't doing enough to keep bad actors an entirely new money movement platform," he said.
from financing criminal activities with cryptocurrencies.
But stablecoins represent a lot more value than credit cards
"With virtual assets inherently borderless, regulatory did at this stage of their development. Abrams estimated
failures in one jurisdiction can have global consequences," the current market capitalization of stablecoins to be $400
the FATF noted. billion.
Stablecoins: overcoming negativity
"That could easily grow to $2 trillion," he said, noting that
The FATF stated that mass adoption of stablecoins by bad as of July, the market capitalization of Visa and Mastercard,
actors is particularly concerning. combined, was $1.22 trillion. "The market has surprised
us in terms of how quickly stablecoin adoption has come
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies tied to stable assets (like around, especially over the last six months," he added.
the U.S. dollar) that are held in blockchain ledgers separate
from traditional financial institution accounts. Stablecoins and the financial mainstream
Stripe isn't the only financial services company interested
On Feb. 21, 2025, bad actors associated with the Democratic in integrating stablecoins with traditional financial
People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) used social instruments. Visa is teaming up with Bridge on a new
engineering techniques and malicious coding to access card-issuing product. Fintech developers can now offer
wallet infrastructures to steal $1.46 billion from the stablecoin-linked Visa cards to their end customers in
cryptocurrency exchange ByBit. The FATF also found multiple countries through a single API integration.
a "significant uptick" in the use of virtual assets, like Cardholders will be able to make everyday purchases
stablecoins, to perpetrate frauds and scams, with one from stablecoin balances at any merchant location that
estimate putting the total lost in 2024 at $51 billion. accepts Visa cards.

The Bank for International Settlements, the central bank of "We're focused on integrating stablecoins into Visa's
central banks, offered its own dire assessment. It wrote in existing network and products in a frictionless and secure
a June 2025 paper issued that stablecoins "perform poorly" way," said Jack Forestell, Visa chief product officer.
especially in terms of becoming a "mainstay" of the
monetary system. And the potential for criminal activity The integration enables issuance of new card programs
is only one of the reasons. in multiple countries at once, starting with Argentina,
Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile. The focus on
There's the lack of issuer oversight, and the need for a Latin America aims to address the growing demand there
profitable business model that involves liquidity or credit among consumers and businesses to utilize stablecoins
risk. "If stablecoins continue to grow, they could pose to store value and fund everyday purchases. Plans are to
financial stability risks," BIS asserted. expand coverage to Europe, Africa and Asia in coming
months.
The independent Community Bankers Association of
America pointed to the BIS assessment in a June 25 news In an April 28 statement, Mastercard said it was "advancing
release, raising concerns about disintermediation of the future of payments" by allowing consumers and
community banks if stablecoins take off. businesses to use stablecoins "as easily as the money in

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