October 22, 2025 - Kadar Abdi
Stablecoins have become the settlement layer of the internet. They already power trillions of dollars of money movement each year, moving value instantly, across borders, and at a fraction of traditional costs. But while adoption has grown, the way stablecoin economics are captured is shifting and product leaders need to understand why.
When users hold stablecoins, issuers invest the reserves in safe, interest-bearing assets. At today’s rates, that translates into billions of dollars of annual revenue. Historically, this yield has flowed almost entirely to a handful of issuers. Platforms integrating those stablecoins gained liquidity, but not the economics.
That dynamic is now breaking down. Teams are asking why they should leak value when they control distribution.
The launch of USDH on Hyperliquid and CASH by Phantom highlight a structural change. Instead of defaulting to outside issuers, platforms are creating their own stablecoins capturing the reserve economics and reinvesting them directly into their ecosystems. The logic is straightforward: the platform that owns the distribution should also benefit from the value it generates.
This shift is not limited to crypto-native teams. Stripe’s Tempo blockchain and Circle’s ARC initiative are purpose-built infrastructure designed around payments and settlement. Rather than relying on general-purpose blockchains, they are building vertically integrated stacks where the stablecoin is the protocol primitive. By owning the rails, they also own the roadmap, the economics, and the ability to shape user experience.
Stablecoins are no longer just a technical choice they are becoming a core product primitive with direct implications for growth, economics, and control.
Control. Relying on external issuers means inheriting their constraints. If they do not support a chain, feature, or policy you need, your roadmap bends to theirs.
Economics. Every dollar of user deposits in stablecoins generates yield. If that value flows to outsiders, it strengthens competing ecosystems. If captured internally, it can fund liquidity, rewards, and better user experiences.
User experience. With modern infrastructure, balances can be shown simply as “USD,” while the issuer is abstracted away. This means platforms can optimise for aligned economics without sacrificing user simplicity.
Resilience. A world with many native stablecoins spreads risk, reducing dependence on any single issuer or regulatory regime.
The industry is moving from a world dominated by a few legacy issuers to one where many platforms issue their own stablecoins, tailored to their needs and aligned with their users. This is not about adding complexity it is about shifting from one-size-fits-all models to purpose-built primitives that reinforce product strategy.
Product leaders should see stablecoins not as neutral infrastructure, but as a lever of differentiation and value capture. Those who align distribution with economics will shape not just their own products, but the future architecture of digital money.