Are international financial institutions doing enough to prepare for a stablecoin tsunami?

Title page 1

Contents 3

Abstract 1

Introduction 4

Stablecoins: A primer 5

Stablecoin use cases 6

The growth of stablecoins 7

Stablecoin risks 12

How stablecoin regulations are evolving 13

The international financial institutions 17

Conclusion 20

Endnotes 21

Tables 10

Table 1. Five new stablecoins were issued in September 2025 alone 10

Table 2. How are major economies regulating stablecoins? 14

Figures 5

Figure 1. Monthly stablecoin transaction volumes have exploded in recent years, to over $1 trillion per month 5

Figure 2. USDC and Tether make up a large majority of stablecoin transaction volume 9

Figure 3. How do stablecoins compare with the largest holders of US Treasuries? 9

Figure 4. Stablecoins make up an increasing share of total crypto transaction volume, going from ~0% in 2018 to ~70% in Aug. 2025 12

Figure 5. Which countries have some type of ban on stablecoins? 19