Stablecoins Routing Around Ethereum and Solana Threaten Native Token Demand

Despite hosting trillions in dollar volume, Ethereum and Solana's native tokens risk losing direct consumer demand. Stablecoin users are increasingly seeing apps route around ETH ($2,490.78 · Live) and SOL ($107.04 · Live), with a wallet allowing someone to receive and send USDC ($1.00 · Live) without displaying a native-token balance.

A user may not see the native token in their wallet, but behind the interface, an app, paymaster, sponsor, or infrastructure provider still settles the network fee in the asset the chain accepts.

The scale of stablecoin use makes this question more than just a footnote in terms of user experience. According to Visa's Onchain Analytics dashboard, about $1.3 trillion in adjusted stablecoin volume and 230.3 million adjusted transactions were recorded over the 30 days ending August 27.