Author: Haotian
Arthur's long article clearly sorted out the past and present of stablecoins - Amazon and Walmart explored issuing stablecoins, Visa's stock price fell, and the entire stablecoin track was very popular. But what surprised me was that there were obvious signs of the popularity of stablecoins in Summer, but the entire Crypto circle responded very coldly, and even funds flowed out of the US stock market to speculate on concept stocks. Why?
——Why is the Crypto Native narrative "indifferent" to the stablecoin craze?
1) This is very interesting. Looking back at the time when Trump issued the currency, everyone was still excitedly anticipating the spillover effect of the presidential currency. Why is the Crypto circle "confused" when the stablecoin grabber with real Mass Adoption potential has come?
In fact, Arthur gave the answer to this question: "Without the issuance channel, there is no stablecoin business". The core of the stablecoin business model is the issuance channel, and Arthur summarized three feasible channels - encrypted exchanges, Web2 giants, and traditional banks. This seems to have little to do with the build direction of most Crypto industries?
You see, Tether's success is not because of its awesome technology, but because it has seized the rigid demand + channel. Even if Circle has more standardized technology, it still has to give 50% of its interest income to Coinbase in exchange for the issuance channel. From this point of view, without a hard-core issuance channel, those projects that try to challenge USDT with "better technology" are basically daydreaming.
It is easier to understand for retail investors. Stablecoins are too "boring". There is no imagination space for 10 times or 100 times of getting rich, so the Crypto circle naturally has no feeling.
——Web2 giants are the real "troublemakers"
2) Arthur's judgment on traditional banks is very sharp - "basically hopeless". The 7x24 borderless US dollar system vs. the banking system with redundant personnel and bureaucratic processes, this is not a competition of the same magnitude at all. The decline of banks has given stablecoins a huge living space.
The Web2 giants such as Meta, X, and Google have real disruptive potential because they have their own user base and payment scenarios. When Amazon and Walmart began to explore stablecoins, this was not a simple business expansion, but a direct "feeding" of billions of mainstream users to the Crypto infrastructure.
In my opinion, this is the real value of the stablecoin Summer - not to bring short-term wealth opportunities to the Crypto circle, but to allow the Crypto infrastructure to quietly penetrate into the mainstream world.
When billions of web2 users start using stablecoins on a daily basis, the infra demand of various tracks such as DeFi, DeAI, and GameFi will increase accordingly. This is a long-term growth buff that cannot be perceived in the short term but cannot be ignored.
——The "silent moistening" behind the IPO boom
3) Of course, even if the so-called Summer is deserted, there will definitely be hype. Arthur reminded very well: Circle IPO is just the first shot, and there will be a bunch of "imitators" rushing in later. Most of these projects do not have real distribution capabilities, but with the blessing of the stablecoin narrative, the market dream rate will be exaggerated.
But back to Arthur's core judgment-projects without issuance channels are basically out of the question. The key is that this part of the Summer expectation may have nothing to do with most retail investors, so just watch the show.
However, from another perspective, this wave of IPOs is essentially "popularizing" the value of crypto to Wall Street. When traditional investors begin to seriously study the stablecoin business model, this "silent" influence is the most worth thinking about.
In my opinion, Stablecoin Summer is the turning point for Crypto to change from a "marginal innovation test field" to a "mainstream business alternative."
At present, it is normal that the Crypto circle cannot feel the heat, because the rules of the game have changed and they are no longer the protagonists. But in the long run, when the crypto infrastructure carries more real-world needs, every crypto native will be a beneficiary of this wave of infrastructure upgrades.