Crypto Founder Says Big US Banks Are a Threat to Stablecoin Issuers
- Big banks’ influx into the stablecoin market could spell an end for stablecoin issuers.
- Stablecoin issuers like Tether rely on banks for custody of their funds and business.
- Arthur Hayes says the reliance on the banks is what makes a takeover very probable.
In a recent interview with renowned cryptocurrency journalist Laura Shin, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO at Maelstromfund, stated that an influx of big banks like JP Morgan into the stablecoin market could spell an early demise for centralized stablecoin issuers.
Amidst the anticipated traditional companies’ influx into crypto, Hayes stated that banks will start looking into issuing stablecoins themselves. The founder said stablecoin issuers like Tether currently back their assets with treasury bills and deposits to ensure 1:1 parity with the US dollar.
To do so, the issuers rely on banks to take their deposits and allow them to trade debit instruments. Ultimately, Hayes said stablecoin issuers cannot exist without a bank holding or clearing their funds.
Furthermore, Hayes argued that given the profit margin of companies like Tether, it is only a matter of when before big banks start looking into the stablecoin market. The founder stated that the lack of a defensible business by stablecoin issuers and their reliance on the banks for the custody of their funds makes this more probable.
At present, Tether is the largest stablecoin issuer with over $91 billion USDT in circulation, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The market cap of the stablecoin makes it the third-largest in the world, far outsizing altcoins like BNB, Solana, and XRP.
Similarly, Tether’s supply far outweighs that of its closest rival, Circle, which has around $24 billion in circulation. Data from DeFiLama estimates that the total stablecoin market is worth around $130 billion.
According to the founder, stablecoin issuers like Tether have a large market share because the big players in the US banking system have refused to participate. However, that dominance will be put to the test should banks like JP Morgan take a deep dive.
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