Answer Box
At the WebX2026 conference, executives from Circle, JPMorgan, and the Solana Foundation agreed that stablecoins and tokenized deposits are complementary rather than competing, serving different use cases. Circle's Asia MD noted that USDC on-chain transaction volume reached approximately $26 trillion in Q1 2026, while JPMorgan's Kinexsis processes $8 billion in daily digital payments. The panel highlighted integration with existing systems as the biggest adoption barrier, not blockchain technology.
The Core Question: Competition or Complement?
Moderator Omkar Godbole asked whether stablecoins and tokenized deposits represent opposing design philosophies or complementary tools. The three panelists—Oliver Harris of JPMorgan, Yam Ki Chan of Circle, and Lu Yin of the Solana Foundation—gave a unified answer: they coexist, but for distinctly different purposes.
Harris explained that tokenized deposits are commercial bank liabilities on a public blockchain, preserving monetary singleness and suiting institutional B2B needs. Stablecoins, as bearer instruments, have found product-market fit in retail and peer-to-peer cross-border payments. Chan added that stablecoins are fundamentally different financial instruments, backed 1:1 by high-quality liquid assets like Treasuries, and are already used in over 130 countries. Lu Yin noted that on Solana, stablecoin use is shifting from trading to payments, with AI agent payments as the next frontier.
Real-World Adoption in Asia
Chan highlighted regulatory progress as a key enabler. Circle holds licenses in the U.S., Europe, Singapore (MAS), and Japan (FSA), making USDC the most regulated digital dollar. He cited concrete examples: a Japanese company now completes intra-company treasury payments between Tokyo and London in under an hour using USDC, down from 2-3 days. Singapore's Nium uses USDC to settle with Visa, cutting prefunding from 7 days to near-instant. Tunez, a payment service provider, reduced remittances to Ghana from T+3–T+5 to T+0.
Harris argued that for B2B and institutional use, tokenized deposits have an edge because they settle at par and can bear interest, while stablecoins may have bid-ask spreads. However, for retail and P2P cross-border payments, stablecoins lead.
The Real Barrier: Integration, Not Technology
When asked why adoption lags, all three pointed to integration with legacy systems, not blockchain limits. Lu Yin said Solana was designed for high throughput and low latency, aiming to compete with Nasdaq-level infrastructure. But the real test will come when major financial institutions move large volumes on-chain and AI agents generate data and attestations.
Harris emphasized that the real question for institutions is how to engage with digital assets—wallet infrastructure, platform architecture, and integration with existing systems. Kinexsis has transferred $4 trillion in five years and processes $8 billion daily, but that is still early compared to JPMorgan's $17 trillion daily dollar clearing. Chan noted that many enterprises cannot receive stablecoins in their ERP systems, and merchants lack back-office readiness.
The Future: Invisible Infrastructure and Agentic Commerce
Looking five years ahead, Chan hopes the terms "stablecoin" and "tokenized deposit" will disappear, just as people no longer say "I'll do e-commerce today." He envisions near-zero cost money movement, enabling financial inclusion for SMEs and individuals in emerging markets.
Harris sees the path as either making existing operations cheaper and more efficient, or offering genuinely new capabilities like 24/7 composability. Without a clear business case, adoption won't happen.
Chan closed with the concept of agentic commerce: machines paying each other. Instead of a machine emailing a banker to settle with another machine, blockchain allows wallets to check balances, settle directly, and reconcile afterward. That, he said, is the natural evolution.