Standard Chartered Predicts $1T Treasury Boost From Stablecoins – But Who’s Buying the Bills?

by
  • Standard Chartered forecasts stablecoin market cap will surge from $304B to $2T by 2028.
  • Stablecoin reserve parking in T-bills could generate up to $1T in new Treasury bill demand.
  • Growth is tied to macroeconomic trends, meaning it can happen without a crypto bull market.

Standard Chartered has, in the most unassuming of ways, issued a prophecy about stablecoins. The kind that will make a banker clutch their pearls. The bank predicts the stablecoin market cap will swell from a modest $304 billion to a whopping $2 trillion by 2028. That’s not a typo, my friends. If the forecast holds, it will send shockwaves through the very heart of the US Treasury market. And no, it’s not a crypto bull market you need to brace for.

As stablecoin issuers park their metaphorical tents in short-term government debt, the demand for Treasury bills could see an increase of $800 billion to $1 trillion. And here’s the twist: This all has less to do with a crypto renaissance and more to do with those pesky macroeconomic trends. The same trends that refuse to make sense to anyone who’s still trying to figure out inflation.

Stablecoins Are Already Reshaping Treasury Demand

Now, let’s get this straight. Most people wouldn’t immediately think of stablecoins as heavy-hitters in the Treasury market. And yet, here we are. Issuers like Tether and Circle, those delightful characters of the crypto world, are sitting comfortably on short-term US Treasuries to back their tokens. The irony, you ask? They’re earning a nice little yield while still keeping their stablecoins backed, like a financial safety net you didn’t know existed. At a paltry $304 billion, stablecoins are already sitting on mountains of T-bill demand. Imagine what happens when they go wild with $2 trillion.

Milk Road – yes, they were the first to spot this phenomenon – pointed out that the market has shifted. You remember when the institutional chatter around stablecoins was filled with anxiety about regulations and possible bans? Well, that conversation has aged like sour milk. Stablecoin issuers have become too large to ignore, and their role in the Treasury market is one of the prime reasons why.

Standard Chartered’s forecast just brings it all into sharper focus. With a market ballooning to $2 trillion, the demand for Treasuries will grow right alongside it. The bank sees this as structural buying pressure, something that could very well come at a critical time for US debt markets. Which, for those keeping score, is a nice, big, heavy ball sitting at the feet of policymakers.

Standard Chartered just dropped a prediction that could reshape how most people think about stablecoins.

(You’re probably already across this, but most aren’t.)

Here’s what’s happening:

The bank forecasts stablecoin market cap will grow from $304B today to $2T by 2028.

ICYMI:…

– Milk Road (@MilkRoad)

Why Macroeconomic Trends Are Driving the Growth

Standard Chartered’s stance is crystal clear: This growth won’t depend on Bitcoin or Ethereum going on some wild ride. No, my dear reader, the good news for Treasury markets comes from macroeconomic forces. Global demand for dollar-denominated assets is like a ravenous beast, and stablecoins have become a fast, accessible means to feast on those assets without bothering with a traditional bank account. How quaint!

This isn’t merely a story about crypto anymore. Stablecoin adoption is becoming a broader financial tale, one that sees more users and businesses adopting stablecoins. The more they grow, the more Treasuries they’ll buy. And like a gloriously recursive machine, this cycle will continue, no bull market required. Milk Road highlights this subtle shift, pointing out that this trend continues even when major cryptocurrencies are simply…existing. For the finance world, this is a total game-changer. Forget the volatility; this is the quiet storm.

What This Means for Crypto Regulation and Markets

Oh, but we can’t forget the political undertones here. When entities are buying up nearly a trillion dollars in US government debt, one does not simply ignore them. Standard Chartered’s forecast suggests that stablecoin issuers will soon wield considerable political power. In other words, the aggressive regulatory crackdown you were fearing? Yeah, it’s probably not coming anytime soon.

Walter Bloomberg, ever the attentive observer, flagged this forecast on X, drawing attention to the shift from structural fears to macro-driven growth. And trust me, it’s an important shift. Lawmakers and regulators, who were once primed to put the squeeze on crypto markets, are now faced with stablecoins holding the government’s purse strings. That’s a different conversation entirely.

For crypto markets at large, this is a seismic shift. You know how regulatory clarity tends to follow the money? Well, if Standard Chartered’s predictions come to pass, we could soon see global regulators finally get off their backsides and provide clear frameworks. Now, that might just be the best thing to happen to crypto in a while.

Read More

2026-02-25 16:31