Stablecoins are poised to reshape the global financial system, with investment bank William Blair calling them a “major technological upgrade” to the traditional rails that have long underpinned cross-border money movements.
The Chicago, Illinois-based banking company argued that stablecoins would not only replace existing infrastructure for business-to-business transactions but also gain traction in certain areas of consumer commerce in the report released Tuesday.
Unlike fiat cross-border payments, which William Blair called “slow, expensive and fragmented,” stablecoins offer key advantages, such as 24/7 availability, near-instant settlement, minimal intermediary involvement and the elimination of foreign exchange risk.
The report highlights that stablecoins also benefit from immutability, programmable execution and exposure to trusted currencies like the US dollar.
William Blair believes that global regulatory clarity, including measures such as the GENIUS Act, will lay the foundation for what he calls a “golden age of stablecoin trading.”
The firm was quick to note that legislation alone will not be enough to drive mass adoption. Instead, he pointed to several catalysts, including growing enterprise demand, advances in digital infrastructure, and traditional financial giants like Mastercard (MA), Visa (V), and Corpay (CPAY) developing support for stablecoins, as necessary steps toward broader adoption.
Although optimistic about the long-term trajectory, William Blair warned that the biggest near-term risk for stocks exposed to stablecoins like Coinbase (COIN) and Circle (CRCL) is market impatience. Investors may be frustrated by the pace of adoption.
Despite this, the company encouraged buying on weakness and reaffirmed its belief that Circle and Coinbase are “the highest quality public crypto companies.”
Looking ahead, William Blair predicts that the market will consolidate around a few dominant payment tokens, as liquidity demands and network compatibility force convergence. This outlook supports the company’s optimism about Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, and Coinbase as a key platform for stablecoin activity. Other potential beneficiaries include Visa, Mastercard and Corpay, with Block (XYZ) and Fiserv (FI) also seeing benefits.
But for traditional correspondent banks, the future looks more uncertain. Analysts have warned that even if these institutions come on stable rails, much of the economic upside will likely fall to new entrants. In the company’s view, stablecoins not only complement the existing financial system, they threaten to replace some of its essential components.
Learn more: DWS sees stablecoins becoming core payment infrastructure
