(6 October 2025 – Singapore) Standard Chartered predicts up to US$1 trillion in emerging market (EM) bank deposits could be reallocated to US stablecoins by late 2028.
The bank anticipates an uptrend in stablecoin savings in EM economies even as US regulators prioritise more stringent regulation. Stablecoins are dollar-pegged crypto tokens designed to keep a steady value typically backed 1:1 by cash and short-dated US Treasuries, redeemable on demand.
Citi forecasts that the total outstanding supply of stablecoins could expand from US$230 billion to as much as US$3.7 trillion by 2030 while Standard Chartered projects global stablecoin market value to reach US$2 trillion by Q4 2028, a forecast the US Treasury has referenced, and projects that about two-thirds of today’s supply functions as savings in EM bank accounts. Analysts predict that EM stablecoin “savings” could potentially rise from roughly US$173 billion today to US$1.22 trillion by 2028, implying more than US$1 trillion in deposit outflows from EM banks.
While the recently passed US GENIUS Act aims to mitigate deposit flight by prohibiting US-compliant stablecoin issuers from paying direct yields, stablecoins are still likely to be adopted even in the absence of yield.
“Future growth in stablecoin use for savings is likely to expand from a small number of wallets with large balances currently to a large number of wallets with small holdings,” Kendrick and Jha stated. “At scale, small holdings will be significant; this growth is likely to occur mostly in EM, where demand for a liquid, 24/7, trustworthy alternative to local banks is greater” stated Standard Chartered Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, and Standard Chartered Global Economist and Head of Thematic Research, Madhur Jha.