Coinbase Says Crypto Has Outgrown 'Wild West' Casino Era As Stablecoins Race Toward $1.2 Trillion

Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) projects stablecoins will hit $1.2 trillion by 2028 as crypto sheds its “Wild West” reputation and matures into institutional-grade assets that behave more like tech stocks than speculative casino chips.

Crypto’s New Normal Looks Like Tech Stocks

After a volatile 2025 that saw the total crypto market cap peak at $4.2 trillion before correcting to $3.0 trillion, Coinbase argues the industry has entered a new phase defined by clearer regulation, corporate adoption, and diminished volatility.

Bitcoin’s 90-day volatility now hovers between 35-40%—comparable to major tech stocks like Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).

That marks a structural shift from speculative outlier to portfolio staple.

The traditional four-year halving cycle is becoming obsolete.

Bitcoin: The New High-Growth Tech Stock

Spot Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ETFs have anchored long-term demand, pulling $58 billion since launch.

That steady institutional bid has compressed volatility and eliminated the violent drawdowns that characterized previous cycles.

Meanwhile, digital asset treasuries emerged as the corporate playbook.

Publicly-traded firms like Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) allocate entire balance sheets to crypto, with these DATs holding over 4% of ETH’s circulating supply by year-end.

Tokenized assets are scaling alongside direct holdings.

BlackRock Inc’s (NYSE:BLK) BUIDL tokenized money market fund topped $2 billion in assets, pushing tokenized U.S. Treasuries to roughly 25% of total real-world assets on-chain.

However, Bitcoin faces a quantum security threat that could force network-wide migration by 2035.

About 6.51 million BTC—32.7% of supply, sits in addresses with exposed public keys vulnerable to future quantum attacks. BlackRock flagged the timeline in May 2025 filings as a structural concern.

Ethereum Maintains Settlement Dominance

Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) rebounded nearly 250% from April lows on institutional DAT demand and spot ETF inflows.

However, October's deleveraging event interrupted momentum and capped the late-summer rally.

Earlier, the March 2025 Pectra upgrade delivered blob scaling, account abstraction, and improved staking efficiency.

At the same time, Ethereum's stablecoin supply reached fresh highs in November, reinforcing settlement dominance.

Looking ahead, Coinbase expects ETF inflows to resume in 2026 as macro conditions ease.

The $1 Trillion Stablecoin Thesis

Stablecoins are eating the world as transaction volumes hit $47.6 trillion in 2025.

Coinbase forecasts the stablecoin market cap could quadruple to $1.2 trillion by 2028.

Supply continues to grow at 30-40% compound annual rates, supported by payments, remittances, and treasury operations.

The firm expects consolidation among issuer-backed stablecoins, resulting in a small number of dominant digital dollars.

Critically, stablecoins are shifting from trading arbitrage to infrastructure.

They are becoming core plumbing for global payments and commerce, offering instant settlement and 24/7 availability that traditional rails cannot match.

Coinbase cautioned that USD-pegged stablecoins may reinforce dollar dominance even as crypto adoption accelerates globally.

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