JPMorgan Sees Stablecoin Market Growing to $500B by 2028, Below Lofty Projections
JPMorgan has forecasted that the stablecoin market will expand to roughly $500 billion by 2028, a projection that falls short of some of the more enthusiastic estimates suggesting the market could balloon to between $1 trillion and $2 trillion.
In a recent report led by strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, JPMorgan explained that the majority of current stablecoin demand comes from within the crypto ecosystem rather than from widespread payment use.
“We view predictions that stablecoins could surge from the current $250 billion to $1–2 trillion in just a few years as overly optimistic,” the analysts wrote.
Stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to assets like the U.S. dollar, play a key role in crypto markets as tools for trading, DeFi applications, and reserves for crypto firms. According to JPMorgan, roughly 88% of stablecoin usage is still tied to crypto-native functions, while only about 6% supports payment activity.
Even with potential regulatory advancements, JPMorgan doesn’t expect significant growth in stablecoin adoption for everyday payments, suggesting that any expansion will remain mostly linked to crypto trading and DeFi.
The bank also dismissed expectations that large sums might shift from traditional bank deposits or money market funds into stablecoins, citing the absence of yield advantages and the complexities of moving money between fiat and crypto systems.
JPMorgan further noted that stablecoins should not be equated with state-backed digital currencies like China’s e-CNY or digital payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, as those operate under entirely different centralized structures.
Despite JPMorgan’s cautious stance, other financial institutions hold a more bullish outlook. Standard Chartered, for example, issued a report in April projecting that the stablecoin market could grow nearly tenfold if the U.S. enacts the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
Standard Chartered’s analysts believe such regulatory clarity could dramatically accelerate stablecoin adoption, potentially lifting the sector from its current $230 billion size to as much as $2 trillion by the end of 2028.
