Large technology firms have begun testing stablecoin-based payouts, with Bitwise’s Matt Hougan saying the early pilots could support growth toward a $4 trillion market by 2030 from roughly $300 billion today.
Summary
- Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said stablecoin payout pilots by DoorDash and Meta could support market growth toward $4 trillion from about $300 billion today.
- Tests with Stripe across more than 40 countries and creator payouts on Solana and Polygon show how firms are using stablecoins for global payments without banking intermediaries.
According to Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, recent payout trials by major platforms have strengthened his confidence that stablecoins can scale into a multi-trillion-dollar segment, even though current usage remains limited in size.
Working with Stripe, DoorDash has started testing stablecoin payouts for its network of about 10 million Dashers across more than 40 countries, Hougan said in a client note released Tuesday.
At the same time, Meta has rolled out similar payment programs for creators in the Philippines and Colombia, using the Solana and Polygon networks to distribute earnings.
In the same note, Hougan described the scale of these trials as relatively small in dollar terms, though he said they have increased his conviction about long-term adoption.
His assessment focused less on transaction costs and more on operational simplicity, noting that stablecoins allow companies to send payments using a single wallet address without relying on traditional banking systems or handling multiple currency conversions.
Calling attention to use cases tied to gig and creator economies, Hougan wrote that global technology firms with distributed workforces are likely to follow similar models. He added that such adoption could bring millions of new users into crypto-based payment systems as companies standardize cross-border payouts.
Data from CoinGecko shows that dollar-pegged stablecoin supply has climbed past $302 billion, with Tether accounting for about $189.5 billion through USDT and Circle contributing roughly $79 billion via USDC.
At the same time, traditional payment firms have also begun building out stablecoin infrastructure.
Western Union introduced its USDPT stablecoin on Solana to enable continuous settlement across more than 200 countries, while Visa reported that its own stablecoin settlement pilot has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate after expanding support to nine blockchains and over 130 card programs in more than 50 countries.
Stablecoin sector poised for growth
As previously reported by crypto.news, Andreessen Horowitz has raised $2.2 billion for its fifth crypto-focused fund, with the firm identifying stablecoins as a key area of sustained usage even as speculative trading activity has cooled across the market.
In a blog post published by its crypto arm, a16z Crypto, general partners Eddy Lazzarin, Guy Wuollet, and Ali Yahya, along with founder and managing partner Chris Dixon, said stablecoin adoption has continued to expand through downturns.
Separate commentary from Robert Hackett, cited in a May 1 report, described stablecoins as moving beyond their initial role of maintaining price parity, instead functioning as infrastructure for payments, settlement, and programmable financial systems built on public blockchains.
Andreessen Horowitz pointed to progress around stablecoin regulation in the U.S., including movement tied to the GENIUS Act, adding that further clarity through legislation and rulemaking could support continued growth in on-chain finance.
