Stablecoin Boom: 2023 Hits Record Highs Amid Global Regulatory Shifts

The market value of stablecoins, also known as cryptocurrencies such as Tether and USDC, has reached new all-time highs in 2023, indicating that the industry supporting stablecoins has experienced tremendous growth over the last year.

According to a new report, global countries have been scrambling to control the market for stablecoins because of the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency sector. The PwC Global Crypto Regulation Report 2023, published on December 19th, revealed that in the year 2023, as many as 25 nations had implemented stablecoin laws or regulations.

PwC’s study and regulatory evaluation included Austria, The Bahamas, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and several other countries. Furthermore, the vast majority of nations that have passed legislation about stablecoins have also secured or enforced all of the other examined regulations.

An excerpt from PwC’s “Crypto regulation at a glance” in 2023. Source: PwC

These policies include a crypto regulatory framework, a license or registration, and the Travel Rule that was developed by the Financial Action Task Force. The professional services firm PwC analyzed the current state of cryptocurrency rules in a total of 43 nations, including the United States of America and the United Kingdom, as part of its recently published study on the subject.

PwC’s research findings indicate that nations like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Canada have not yet finalized legislation for stablecoins or developed a legal framework for cryptocurrencies.

According to the data provided by PwC, certain nations that are favorable to cryptocurrencies, such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, have implemented all rules about cryptocurrencies, except for stablecoins.

According to the analysis, only 8 jurisdictions, which is approximately 18% of the countries examined, have not initiated any stablecoin rules at all. This category includes countries such as Bahrain, Brazil, India, Taiwan, Turkey, and others.

Twenty-three percent of the examined jurisdictions have already started regulating stablecoins and are actively adopting stablecoin regulations. These jurisdictions include Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Stablecoins make up a significant portion of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, with Tether being the most frequently traded asset daily.

CoinGecko provides information that shows Tether’s daily trading volumes at $34 billion, which surpasses Bitcoin’s volumes by 23% during the same period. For the year 2023, the market for stablecoins has been expanding, adding billions of dollars in value as a result of the tremendous expansion of Tether and other stablecoins.

Midway through December 2023, the market capitalization of Tether surpassed $90 billion for the very first time, securing a growth rate of 36% since January. The overall market capitalization of stablecoins has reached a new record of $131 billion, according to data provided by CoinGecko.

All-time market capitalization of major stablecoins. Source: CoinGecko

This year has seen the market capitalization of stablecoins reach yet another historical high. Several observers anticipate that stablecoins will continue to expand in the years to come. In the year 2024, according to Ryan Rasmussen of Bitwise, stablecoins will settle more money than Visa, which is the most widely used payment system in the world.