BlackRock and Visa integrate stablecoins! "Smart money" bets on 7.3 billion RWA explosion

The market capitalization of stablecoins has surpassed 317 billion USD, reaching a new high. Circle USDC has increased by 73%, crushing USDT’s 36%. Visa is adopting USDC for settlement, and BlackRock BUIDL has reached 2 billion USD. In 2025, stablecoin trading volume will hit 46 trillion USD, and RWA has exploded from 200 million to 7.3 billion USD. The smart money’s betting logic: T+1/T+2 settlement times are becoming seconds, with transaction fees dropping from dozens of dollars to 1 USD.

BlackRock BUIDL’s 2 Billion USD On-Chain Revolution

In March 2024, BlackRock launched BUIDL—a tokenized money market fund. This isn’t BlackRock’s first foray into blockchain, but it’s the most aggressive yet. BUIDL is issued directly on public blockchains, holding U.S. Treasuries and cash, maintaining a 1 USD net asset value, and distributing earnings monthly to holders. By March 2025, BUIDL surpassed 1 billion USD, becoming the first on-chain fund to reach this scale. By the end of 2025, its size exceeded 2 billion USD, making it the largest tokenized fund to date.

What did BlackRock see? The answer is simple: efficiency and cost. Traditional money market funds require T+1 or T+2 settlement for subscriptions and redemptions, and cross-border transfers go through the SWIFT system, incurring multiple layers of fees. On-chain funds, transfers are instant, with fees under 1 USD, operating 24/7. More importantly, BUIDL opens a new channel. Previously, retail investors found it difficult to directly buy money market funds (thresholds often above 1 million USD). But through blockchain, anyone can buy.

This is why protocols like Ondo Finance are emerging. Ondo’s approach is straightforward: repackage BlackRock’s BUIDL and other institutional-grade RWAs into smaller shares and sell them to DeFi users. Its OUSG product directly invests in BUIDL, allowing ordinary users to enjoy 4-5% annual yield on U.S. Treasuries. The tokenization of U.S. Treasuries exploded in 2025, skyrocketing from less than 200 million USD at the start of 2024 to over 7.3 billion USD by the end of 2025. BlackRock’s entry, to some extent, provides regulatory legitimacy to the entire RWA sector.

Three Revolutionary Breakthroughs of BlackRock BUIDL

Democratization of access: lowered from 1 million USD to any amount, accessible via protocols like Ondo

Instant settlement: from T+1/T+2 to seconds, operating 24/7

Cost revolution: fees reduced from dozens of dollars to less than 1 USD

The core logic behind smart money’s bets is this efficiency revolution. Operations that traditionally take days can now be completed in seconds on-chain; while traditional channels charge 1.5%-3% in fees, stablecoins cost less than 0.01%. This magnitude of efficiency improvement is not linear but a paradigm shift.

The Compliance Divide: USDC 73% Crushes USDT 36%

Tether (USDT) remains the king of stablecoins, with a market cap of 186.7 billion USD, accounting for 60% market share. But smart money is voting with its feet. In 2025, USDC’s market cap grew from about 44 billion USD to over 75 billion USD, a 73% increase. USDT only grew 36%, from approximately 137 billion to 186.7 billion USD. This marks the second consecutive year that USDC’s growth outpaced USDT.

Why? The answer is regulation. On July 18, 2025, the U.S. President signed the GENIUS Act, the first federal legislation targeting stablecoins in the U.S. The bill requires “payment stablecoins” to hold 100% reserves (cash or short-term government bonds) and prohibits paying interest to users. Circle’s USDC fully complies with this standard. Moreover, Circle became the first issuer to obtain full EU MiCA compliance.

What does this mean? It means USDC has gained access to mainstream financial systems. When Stripe chooses stablecoin payments, it opts for USDC. When Visa launches USDC settlement, it chooses USDC. When Shopify enables merchants to accept stablecoins, it supports USDC. For banks, payment companies, and compliant exchanges, USDC is a “white-listed asset,” whereas USDT faces delisting pressures in Europe due to transparency issues with reserves.

But Tether isn’t worried. Its main markets are not in the U.S. or Europe but in high-inflation regions—Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia. In countries like Argentina, Turkey, Nigeria, USDT has already replaced some local currencies, becoming a de facto “shadow dollar.” People, upon receiving salaries, first convert to USDT for value preservation.

The stablecoin market is splitting into two clear paths: USDC follows a compliance route serving Western institutions and payment scenarios, backed by top firms like BlackRock, Fidelity, and General Catalyst; USDT follows an offshore route serving emerging markets and trading scenes, holding an irreplaceable position in the Global South.

Visa Settlement and 46 Trillion USD Transaction Volume Defensive Offense

In December 2025, Visa announced the launch of USDC settlement services in the U.S. This is a historic moment. Previously, Visa’s business model involved charging 1.5%-3% per transaction. Now, it allows partners to settle with USDC, significantly reducing fees. This appears to be a self-revolution, but in reality, Visa is engaging in a defensive offensive.

Visa perceives the threat: stablecoins are eroding its core business—cross-border payments. Traditional cross-border payments involve multiple correspondent banks, layered fees, and take 3-5 days to settle. Stablecoin payments settle in seconds with fees under 1 USD. According to a16z, in 2025, total stablecoin transaction volume will reach 46 trillion USD (already surpassing Visa), with adjusted payment/settlement volume around 9 trillion USD, growing rapidly and eating into cross-border/emerging market shares.

Visa’s strategy: if you can’t beat them, join them. By launching USDC settlement, Visa transforms from a “payment conduit” into a “payment orchestrator.” It no longer charges high fees but profits from providing compliant, risk-controlled, anti-money laundering value-added services. Meanwhile, other payment giants are acting: Stripe acquired the stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge for 1.1 billion USD in October 2024; PayPal’s PYUSD surged 600% in 2025, from 600 million USD to 3.6 billion USD; Western Union plans to launch USDPT stablecoin on Solana in the first half of 2026.

Notably, Western Union and Visa’s initial partners both chose Solana as the settlement chain, highlighting the advantages of high-performance public blockchains in payment scenarios—high throughput, low transaction costs. When the world’s largest payment network begins settling with stablecoins, it’s not a pilot or proof of concept but a substantial infrastructure shift. Smart money sees an opportunity for a reshuffle of a market worth tens of trillions of USD.