Stablecoin Market Surpasses $280 Billion with $34 Trillion DeFi Growth Expected

Arthur Hayes, CIO at Maelstrom and former CEO of BitMEX, predicts a transformative surge in the stablecoin and DeFi markets driven by up to $34 trillion in capital inflows from the eurodollar market and deposits from the Global South by 2028. He anticipates that dollar-pegged stablecoins will become key conduits for onchain capital, leading to significant value increases for protocols like Ethena (51-fold), Ether.fi (34-fold), and Hyperliquid (126-fold), contingent upon regulatory and technological shifts. Hayes highlights a new stablecoin infrastructure project, Codex, which could serve as the first true crypto bank by enabling businesses to accept stablecoin payments and access blockchain-based credit options. The stablecoin market has recently reached an all-time high capitalization of approximately $280 billion, with USDT maintaining dominance and Solana's stablecoin market also growing significantly. Despite Hayes's ambitious forecasts, industry analysts acknowledge the stablecoin sector’s rapid expansion and project that stablecoins could account for a substantial share of global cross-border payments by 2030. However, these developments depend heavily on regulatory environments and technology adoption, particularly in non-US banking and Global South markets.