Moody's 2026 Outlook: Stablecoins Will Become a Core Market Infrastructure

PANews January 7th News, according to Cointelegraph, Moody’s latest cross-industry outlook report indicates that stablecoins are transforming from crypto-native tools into core infrastructure for institutional markets. The report released on Monday shows that, based on industry estimates of on-chain transactions (not just interbank fund flows), the settlement volume of stablecoins is expected to grow by approximately 87% year-over-year by 2025, reaching about $9 trillion. Moody’s believes that fiat-backed stablecoins and tokenized deposits are becoming the “digital cash” used for liquidity management, collateral transfer, and settlement in an increasingly tokenized financial system. Moody’s places stablecoins alongside tokenized bonds, funds, and credit products, viewing them as part of the integration of traditional and digital finance. By 2025, banks, asset management firms, and market infrastructure providers will launch pilot projects for blockchain settlement networks, tokenization platforms, and digital custody to streamline issuance, post-trade processes, and intraday liquidity management. As enterprises build large-scale tokenized and programmable settlement infrastructure, the report estimates that by 2030, these initiatives will attract over $300 billion in investments in digital finance and infrastructure. Under this landscape, stablecoins and tokenized deposits are increasingly becoming settlement assets for cross-border payments, repurchase agreements, and collateral transfers. Moody’s emphasizes that for stablecoins to become reliable institutional settlement assets rather than a new source of systemic fragility, security, interoperability, governance, and regulatory clarity are equally important.