Standard Chartered now offers institutional clients direct access to minting and redeeming Circle's USDC stablecoin. This move, joining BNY's similar expansion, shows the banking debate has shifted from whether to use stablecoins to how to build around them.
Industry executives argue the real value lies in the networks and liquidity surrounding stablecoins, not the tokens themselves. Circle's USDC faces new competition from OpenUSD, a rival backed by Coinbase, Stripe, and BlackRock.
European lenders are actively developing euro-denominated stablecoins to prevent settlement activity from defaulting to dollar-backed tokens. Qivalis, a consortium of 37 European institutions, is creating the Euro On-Chain stablecoin to anchor tokenized finance in euros.
"Banks aren't asking whether they'll use stablecoins anymore. They're deciding how they'll use them," said Agant founder Andrew MacKenzie. The focus is now on integrating stablecoin infrastructure for payments, treasury, and settlement.