TLDR:
- Stablecoin market grew from $205 billion to over $300 billion throughout 2025, with USDC reaching $75B cap.
- Operating regulated stablecoins requires continuous reserve management, banking relationships, and 24/7 compliance.
- Approximately 95% of launched stablecoin projects fail to achieve sustainable global scale despite 300+ attempts.
- USDC has processed over $60 trillion in lifetime transaction volume as of January 30, 2026, demonstrating trust.
Circle’s Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi has advised enterprises to reconsider building proprietary stablecoins as the market surpasses $300 billion.
The company argues that integrating established regulated stablecoins like USDC offers strategic advantages over creating new tokens.
This recommendation comes amid growing enterprise interest in digital currency solutions. Circle emphasizes that operating trusted stablecoins demands continuous regulatory oversight, reserve management, and banking relationships beyond simple token deployment.
Strategic Complexities Behind Stablecoin Operations
The stablecoin market expanded from approximately $205 billion on January 1, 2025, to over $300 billion by year’s end.
Circle’s USDC closed 2025 with a market cap exceeding $75 billion. Despite this growth, the company warns that launching tokens represents the simplest aspect of stablecoin operations.
Razzaghi explains that the decision involves more than technical considerations. “Do you want a stablecoin for your business, or do you want to get into the stablecoin business?” he asks. This question frames the strategic choice facing enterprises evaluating digital currency options.
Operating regulated stablecoins requires real-time reserve management across market cycles and daily reconciliation with banking partners.
Companies must establish compliance, risk, treasury, and liquidity operations running continuously. These capabilities compound in cost and complexity as operations scale.
Independent attestations and regulatory reporting across multiple jurisdictions become mandatory requirements.
Circle shared its perspective through X, noting the common enterprise question about issuing proprietary stablecoins.
The company states that this “isn’t a technical decision” but rather “a strategic one” about whether issuing money aligns with core business models.
Proprietary stablecoins fragment liquidity and trust at the system level according to Circle. Each new issuer duplicates reserves, compliance frameworks, and redemption infrastructure.
Market Concentration and Trust Dynamics
Over 300 stablecoin projects have launched, yet approximately 95 percent never achieve sustainable global scale.
The market demonstrates clear concentration around a limited number of issuers. Technology alone fails to differentiate successful stablecoins from failed projects.
Trust compounds through transparency, scale, and consistent redeemability across varying market conditions. USDC has processed over $60 trillion in lifetime volume as of January 30, 2026.
This volume reflects the network effects that emerge from established banking relationships and proven operational controls.
Operational failures carry significant consequences in stablecoin markets. Earlier this year, one issuer accidentally minted $300 trillion in tokens due to operational errors.
Another prominent stablecoin temporarily lost its peg during market turbulence. These incidents demonstrate how infrastructure weaknesses cascade under pressure.
Circle advocates partnership over independent development for most enterprises. “For institutions defining their stablecoin strategy, the first move shouldn’t be deciding what to build,” the company advises. “It should be deciding who to build with.”
Integration with USDC and EURC provides near-instant settlement and global reach across multiple blockchains. Companies gain these capabilities without assuming regulatory and reserve management burdens.
The post Circle Advises Enterprises Against Launching Own Stablecoins, Promotes USDC Integration appeared first on Blockonomi.