The New Order of Stablecoins: The Reconstruction of Dollar Hegemony

From the underground economies of Africa, Asia, and Latin America to the Indian diaspora in the Arabian Sea, an invisible barrier spanning the continents of the Third World has now fallen. Behind this barrier lies the bastion of all traditional financial institutions—including major banks, fintech companies, Wall Street, state-owned banks, and more. These financial giants and the flow of capital are all within the realm of traditional finance, but they have now inevitably been influenced and controlled by stablecoins, particularly USDT.

Tether's Diversification Strategy

The recently released 2025 stablecoin report shows that whether it is payment stablecoins, cross-border settlement, or C2C remittances, they are all built on the foundation of USDT, with only a few other stablecoins capable of competing with it. However, USDT's "kingdom" is not unassailable. On one hand, competitors like USDC are eating into market share; on the other hand, emerging stablecoin projects like Ethena are attracting exchange partnerships through innovative mechanisms.

Tether has not focused all its efforts on the stablecoin business. The company is also involved in various fields such as Bitcoin mining, cryptocurrency management, and solar energy nodes in Africa, and it has entered the institutional settlement market through a certain payment network. Notably, Tether's investment in the Bitcoin ecosystem has been consistent, from the early issuance on the Bitcoin network to the recent deployment on the Bitcoin sidechain network, and to supporting payment networks that regard BTC as a core asset, all of which reflect this.

The Struggle for Orthodoxy: The Rise of Emerging Forces

The competition in the stablecoin sector is becoming increasingly fierce. In addition to USDT, USDC is enhancing its position through compliance and technological innovation. Another emerging force worth noting is USDG, which is backed by a series of powerful ecological alliances, including well-known exchanges and BTC ecological giants.

Currently, the stablecoin market has mainly formed four camps:

1. USDT Alliance
2. USDC Alliance
3. USDG Alliance
4. USDe Alliance

These alliances cover multiple aspects such as payment, settlement, and pricing. One of the means by which they maintain operations is by designing mechanisms to attract more funds, in order to gain scale advantages and more profit distribution.

Conclusion

The stablecoin battle has entered its second decade. Compared to the early days, the market landscape is more diversified, no longer dominated by a single player. It is hoped that this competition will bring more innovation and choices to the market, rather than repeating past mistakes and allowing one party to monopolize pricing power. After all, in the financial world, lost market share is often difficult to regain.