The End of the Dollar Mint Tax, Stablecoins Enter a New Era

With the changes in the global financial landscape, the stablecoin market is迎来新的机遇与挑战. The traditional dollar system is facing reconstruction, while the interest-bearing stablecoin (YBS) is rising, becoming the new focus of the market.

The turbulence in the fiat currency system in 2025 will drive the development of on-chain stablecoins, especially the non-US dollar and non-full reserve YBS. Although non-full reserve stablecoins are still in the theoretical stage, some partially backed stablecoins are likely to become mainstream in the future. Non-US dollar stablecoins are still being explored, and the global currency status of the US dollar is unlikely to be shaken in the short term.

Currently, YBS is mainly based on the US dollar and full reserves. Its core lies in how to balance capital efficiency and risk management. The policies of the Trump administration are breaking the balance of US dollar hegemony, which may trigger global economic turbulence. This, in turn, provides opportunities for cryptocurrencies, especially in the fields of cross-border payments and arbitrage.

In the crypto market, the issuance of stablecoins is more meaningful than the total market capitalization. However, the $230 billion in stablecoins struggles to provide sufficient liquidity for a $2.7 trillion market. This structural imbalance creates opportunities for YBS.

Ethena's USDe is a case worth paying attention to. It attempts to mimic the US dollar system through complex mechanism design. However, its core challenge lies in how to increase the adoption rate of USDe in the fields of trading and payments.

YBS is essentially a customer acquisition cost. Its revenue is actually a liability of the protocol, requiring more users to hold rather than stake to maintain. Currently, the YBS revenue on Ethereum mainly comes from Ethena and Pendle, but has significantly decreased compared to the high-yield era in the past.

In the future, the main challenges faced by YBS include:

1. Diversification of underlying yield sources to reduce reliance on U.S. Treasury bonds.
2. Enhance secondary market liquidity
3. Balancing the relationship between high returns and market share
4. Explore more practical application scenarios, especially in the fields of trading and payment.

Overall, the stablecoin market is entering a new stage of development. Whether YBS can truly become mainstream will require the test of time. Market participants should closely monitor innovations and developments in this area.