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Key Takeaways
- Standard Chartered will let institutional clients directly mint and redeem USDC, following BNY’s expanded custody and settlement support
- Executives say the network around a stablecoin, not the token itself, is what generates value for users and issuers
- Dollar-pegged tokens make up over 99% of stablecoin market cap, prompting European institutions like Qivalis to build euro alternatives
Standard Chartered said it will offer institutional clients direct access to minting and redeeming USDC, following BNY’s recent expansion of its own USDC custody and settlement services. The moves come as major lenders focus on how to integrate the tokens into payments, treasury and settlement systems.
Standard Chartered and BNY Deepen Ties to USDC
Standard Chartered said this week it will offer institutional clients direct access to minting and redeeming USDC, Circle Internet’s dollar-pegged stablecoin. The announcement followed BNY’s expanded support for USDC, which lets institutional clients custody, mint and redeem the token using the custody bank’s existing infrastructure rather than building their own systems.
BNY, which holds $59 trillion in assets under management, and Standard Chartered are both designated global systemically important banks by the Bank for International Settlements’ Basel Committee. Their moves reflect a broader pattern of large lenders building on established stablecoin networks instead of issuing proprietary tokens.
Chainalysis has estimated stablecoin settlement volumes could reach a quadrillion dollars annually by 2030, a projection widely cited across the industry.
Executives Say the Network Matters More Than the Token
Andrew MacKenzie, founder and CEO of Scotland-based stablecoin issuer Agant, said in an interview that banks have moved past the initial question of adoption.
“Banks aren’t asking whether they’ll use stablecoins anymore. They’re deciding how they’ll use them.”
Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic, co-founder and partner at Steakhouse Financial, a firm that advises institutions on decentralized finance, said the infrastructure surrounding a stablecoin, rather than the token itself, is what generates value for users and issuers alike.
“The network is what creates the value. The stablecoin itself becomes almost secondary.”
The comments followed public remarks from Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responding to the launch of OpenUSD, a competing stablecoin backed by Coinbase, payments company Stripe and asset manager BlackRock. Allaire said USDC’s position rests on nearly a decade of liquidity development, banking relationships and regulatory approvals.
Dollar Tokens Still Dominate Global Stablecoin Supply
Dollar-pegged tokens account for more than 99% of total stablecoin market capitalization, a concentration that some European institutions cite as motivation for developing euro-denominated alternatives.
Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis, a consortium of 37 European financial institutions developing the Euro On-Chain stablecoin, said Europe already has regulatory clarity through the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. What the region lacks, he said, is sufficient euro-denominated liquidity to prevent settlement activity from defaulting to dollar-backed tokens.
“If we don’t have a euro on the blockchain, the banks will use the dollar because it’s there, it’s available and it has a lot of liquidity.”
Sell said Qivalis is not positioning itself as a direct competitor to USDC. Instead, the consortium aims to give European banks, businesses and payment firms a regulated euro option as tokenized finance expands, allowing settlement in euros without converting through dollars.
A Shared Network Model Gains Ground in Europe
Rather than having each member bank issue its own euro stablecoin, Qivalis is structured around a single shared network. Sell said broader participation strengthens the consortium’s utility.
“The more banks we have in the consortium, the better. Our network has stronger network effects.”
MacKenzie said he sees a similar pattern developing among U.K. banks, which he described as increasingly focused on the infrastructure connecting stablecoins to traditional finance rather than on digital assets as a standalone category. Businesses generally prefer settling obligations in their home currencies, he said, rather than converting into U.S. dollars first.
MacKenzie said that preference has factored into the introduction of non-dollar tokens including Societe Generale’s EUR CoinVertible and Credit Agricole’s EURXT, alongside Qivalis’ planned offering. Cachinero Vasiljevic said issuing a token is only the first step.
“Anybody can issue a stablecoin. But if nobody uses the stablecoin, the stablecoin is worthless. The value of the stablecoin is the network.”
