Stablecoins hit $300B market cap: Why Tether’s $10B profit is just the beginning

While L1s ecosystems continue to chase hype through narrative cycles and speculative throughput claims, crypto’s most reliable profits have accrued elsewhere.

Stablecoins have quietly evolved into the sector’s dominant revenue engine, driven by their scale, ubiquity, and control over on-chain settlement.

As a result, issuers have been able to convert this structural advantage into sustained cash flows, exemplified by Tether [USDT] generating over $10 billion in profit in 2025.

Stablecoin issuers have evolved into large-scale revenue generators, with Ethereum serving as the dominant settlement layer, anchoring that growth.

Source: X

In 2025 alone, issuers generated roughly $5 billion in revenue tied to Ethereum-based supply. Quarterly revenue expanded from near $1.2 billion early in the year to about $1.4 billion by Q4.

At the same time, stablecoin supply on Ethereum [ETH] grew by nearly $50 billion, surpassing $160 billion.

As reserves expanded, yield-based income scaled predictably. This dynamic reinforces Ethereum’s financial gravity, deepens liquidity, and strengthens its role as core on-chain monetary infrastructure.

ONDO emerges as a core liquidity hub for tokenized RWAs

ONDO Finance is rapidly consolidating its position as a leading real-world asset platform, with Ondo Finance [ONDO] pushing total value locked (TVL) to roughly $2.5 billion by January 2026.

Earlier in 2025, TVL hovered just above $1 billion. Since then, capital has accelerated sharply, driven by tokenized yield products.

Source: DefiLlama

Tokenized U.S. Treasuries account for nearly $2 billion, led by OUSG and Ondo US Dollar Yield [USDY]. Meanwhile, tokenized stocks and ETFs exceed $500 million across more than 200 assets.

As ONDO expands across multiple chains, its scale signals growing institutional confidence in on-chain RWAs.

Is RWA TVL growth following stablecoin liquidity cycles?

RWA TVL growth increasingly tracks stablecoin supply expansion, revealing a clear liquidity-driven relationship.

As the stablecoin market cap climbed toward $280–300 billion by late 2025, RWA TVL simultaneously expanded to roughly $16–19 billion.

This side-by-side growth reflects function, not coincidence. Stablecoins act as settlement rails and yield-bearing inputs for tokenized treasuries and equities.

Consequently, platforms like Ondo doubled TVL beyond $2.5 billion as stablecoin-backed demand intensified.

Therefore, the trend signals structural conviction, though short-term stalls in stablecoin issuance can temporarily cap RWA momentum.

Final Thoughts

• Stablecoins have become crypto’s most reliable profit engine, translating settlement scale into recurring cash flows while Ethereum reinforces its role as the dominant on-chain monetary layer.
• Concurrently, RWA growth remains liquidity-driven, with TVL expansion closely following stablecoin supply, positioning platforms like ONDO as beneficiaries of stablecoin-backed demand rather than speculative cycles.