Stablecoins Emerge as Crucial Financial Plumbing Component

Stablecoins have become the new hot topic in the cryptocurrency space, with major companies like Visa and Mastercard investing heavily in their infrastructure. The reason behind this sudden interest is not just about trading and volatility, but rather about stablecoins becoming a crucial component of financial plumbing. According to Rick Cramer, Head of Analytics at SimpleSwap, stablecoins are no longer just for traders, but have become settlement rails for parties that have nothing to do with trading.

Take, for example, the payment protocol x402, which lets AI agents pay each other in USDC for API calls and data. In a single 30-day stretch this August, agents made close to 17.8 million of those payments, and Token Terminal's numbers show that essentially all of them settled in USDC.

But what about the supply side? Why are companies like Visa and Mastercard building their own stablecoin rails instead of using existing ones? According to Cramer, issuing a stablecoin is a different business from distributing it. Companies want to own the relationship with their users and control the flow of money.