Have Stablecoins Already Taken Over the Internet?

The era of plastic is coming to an end. While Visa and Mastercard are struggling under the weight of opaque fees and archaic delays, a new form of infrastructure is quietly taking over. Stablecoins, long relegated to the status of trader tools, are now settling at the heart of the Web as the “default settlement layer.” This is no longer a futuristic hypothesis: it is a reality rooted in numbers and usage.

From the Shadows to Domination: Stablecoins Surpass Cards

There is an almost poetic irony to see Visa and Mastercard, spearheads of dematerialized finance, being surpassed… by lines of code. According to Noam Hurwitz of Alchemy, stablecoins have officially overtaken the card giants in onchain transaction volume, with a 7% lead. This is not just a strong signal: it is an earthquake for online payment infrastructure.

Why this meteoric rise? Because stablecoins go straight to the point. No greedy intermediaries. No delay between validation and settlement. PayPal, Stripe, Circle, and even Visa themselves understand this well: to stay in the race, crypto must be integrated into their rails, or risk becoming obsolete. Programmable money is becoming the norm.

In this tipping game, Alchemy plays a central role. As a provider of the technical infrastructure for the largest wallets and payment networks, the company finds itself powering a parallel financial architecture that is no longer marginal.

Stablecoins: Catalysts for a Universal Financial Web

But stablecoins do not just “pay fast.” They redefine what money means on the Internet. International transfers in seconds, automated payments, optimized treasury… These digital assets, indexed to real-world currencies, combine the stability of fiat currency with the flexibility of blockchain.

The case of Tether is revealing. With 113 billion dollars invested in U.S. Treasury bonds, the issuer of USDT holds more sovereign debt than… Germany. Alone, Tether generated 13 billion dollars in profits last year. It is a fully-fledged monetary player, but without a central bank. And this is where regulators have concerns.

The world may not yet speak crypto daily, but it already uses its foundations. Whether through predictive betting platforms like Polymarket or cross-border transfers invisible to the end user, stablecoins are infiltrating the mechanisms of global digital commerce.

Normalization in Progress… but Still Fragmented

The passage of the Genius Act by the U.S. Senate marks a turning point. For the first time, the United States structurally regulates these new financial rails. Enough to reassure institutions and attract even more traditional capital into crypto.

However, it’s not all that simple. The blockchain landscape remains fragmented, cross-chain standards are still in their infancy, and the user experience suffers from technical complexity that is hard to hide.

Businesses want the speed and low cost of stablecoins without bearing their technological burden.

Despite the enthusiasm of innovators, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) offers a discordant note. According to it, stablecoins fail to embody a proper currency because they lack uniqueness, elasticity, and integrity. Criticism that sounds like a swan song of the old world in the face of an infrastructure that has not waited for the green light from central banks to impose itself.

Stablecoins are no longer just niche tools in the crypto ecosystem. They are becoming the backbone of a transforming financial Web. Neither state currency nor listed stock. They are the new pipes of an Internet where money flows freely, frictionlessly. And above all, without central control. A silent force, where bitcoin worries authoritarian regimes.

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.