Moody’s: Stablecoins a limited near-term threat to banks
A Moody’s analyst says stablecoins surpassed $300 billion in market value but currently pose limited risk to U.S. banks because use is modest and yield-bearing products are barred.
Abhi Srivastava, associate vice president in Moody’s Investors Service Digital Economy Group, said stablecoin market capitalization exceeded $300 billion at the end of last year, while actual use remains modest. He pointed to existing U.S. payment systems as “fast, low-cost and trusted” and noted current U.S. rules prevent stablecoins from paying yield.
Srivastava added that disruption risk for banks appears limited at this stage and that yield restrictions make it unlikely stablecoins will replace traditional deposits at scale domestically in the near term.
Stablecoins are being used more in payments, cross-border commerce and onchain finance. Adoption of tokenized real-world assets, defined as traditional or physical financial assets represented on a blockchain, has also grown. Moody’s analysts say wider use of stablecoins and tokenized assets over time could lead to deposit outflows and reduce banks’ lending capacity.
Regulatory policy is central to how the market develops. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, known as the CLARITY Act, was drafted to set asset categories, define regulatory jurisdiction and provide oversight for crypto assets. The bill has stalled in Congress after parts of the crypto industry objected to earlier drafts, citing a proposed ban on yield-bearing stablecoins and a lack of legal protections for open-source software developers.
Senator Thom Tillis has said he plans to release an updated draft intended to gain support from both industry and banking groups; the revision has not been published and reportedly faced pushback in private discussions. Some industry executives and market analysts warned that failure to reach a compromise could lead to stricter regulation later.
For now, Moody’s assessment is that U.S. banks are not immediately at risk of major displacement. The longer-term outlook will depend on the pace of stablecoin and tokenized-asset growth, whether rules change to permit yield-bearing products, and how banks respond to competition for deposits and payment flows.
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