The International Monetary Fund has acknowledged the momentum in the $308 billion stablecoin industry.
“Stablecoins have great potential to make international payments faster and cheaper for people and companies,” the multilateral lender said on Thursday.
Stablecoins, the IMF said, “widen access to digital finance through increased competition” and enhance the user experience by connecting to both traditional and crypto-based payment rails.
The comments mark a noticeable shift in tone from previous IMF assessments and come as stablecoin adoption accelerates across emerging markets, with regulated issuers racing to integrate with existing financial systems.
They also land as US President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively catapults crypto into the financial mainstream.
Last month, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lifted his forecast for the stablecoin market to $3 trillion by 2030, a 50% jump from his previous $2 trillion estimate.
Bessent said the sector is expected to “grow tenfold by the end of the decade thanks to the innovation made possible by the Genius Act,” describing stablecoins as a priority growth engine and as a future pillar of US sovereign debt demand.
He added that the Treasury Department is “closely monitoring growth in money-market funds and the stablecoin market,” noting both groups invest largely in government debt.
Demand for those securities, he said, remains robust, with stablecoin issuers set to play an increasingly important role in long-term debt management.
Citi echoes the upbeat outlook and projects the stablecoin market could expand to $4 trillion by decade’s end.
Illicit finance risks
To be sure, the IMF remains wary of regulatory gaps and the financial stability risks posed by the growth of unregulated stablecoin.
“Tokenisation and stablecoins are here to stay. But their future adoption and the outlook for this technology are still mostly unknown,” it said.
The fund continues to advocate for a globally coordinated framework to mitigate arbitrage, legal fragmentation and systemic risk.
The report also raised concerns about illicit finance.
Without consistent cross-border rules, stablecoin issuers could exploit legal loopholes and operate beyond the reach of national authorities, it warned.
“The IMF continues to closely monitor developments and the evolving impact of stablecoins on the international monetary system, offering analysis, guidance, and policy advice to member countries on crypto assets, including stablecoins.”
