Gabrielle Saulsbery
6 min read
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This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter.
Crypto-focused bank Anchorage Digital placed its bets on stablecoins last month when it unveiled plans to acquire stablecoin issuer Mountain Protocol for an undisclosed sum.
It’s been a big year for the novel technology, which is meant to maintain a stable value by being pegged to fiat currency like the U.S. dollar. Major stablecoin issuer Circle filed its initial public offering in May, and as of Wednesday its stock price has surged over 160%. Fiserv launched a stablecoin in collaboration with Circle on Monday; JPMorgan Chase launched a stablecoin-like token for institutional clients early this month; and the GENIUS Act – meant to create a regulatory framework for the tokens – is moving through the legislature.
Stablecoins are “cornerstone” to Anchorage’s long-term vision and “foundational” to the future of finance, CEO and co-founder Nathan McCauley said – “not just as payment tools, but as critical infrastructure that powers tokenized assets, decentralized finance, and next-generation financial products.”
In a recent email interview with Banking Dive, McCauley detailed his thoughts on how stablecoins are both foundational technology and a bridge to other innovations.
“[T]hey solve a real-world problem: enabling fast, transparent and programmable movement of value across borders, platforms and asset classes,” he said, and “they unlock the utility needed for the next wave of innovation, including tokenized assets, on-chain capital markets and real-time financial services.”
“Without stablecoins, tokenized assets don’t have a native settlement layer. Without stablecoins, programmable finance can’t operate at scale,” McCauley said. “So, while they may have started as a bridge between crypto and fiat, stablecoins are now becoming core plumbing in the digital financial system.”
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
NATHAN MCCAULEY: At scale, fully fiat-backed stablecoins are the most viable today — particularly when issued under clear regulatory frameworks and backed by high-quality, short-duration assets like U.S. Treasuries. They offer transparency, simplicity and the predictability that institutions and regulators need to trust and adopt stablecoins at scale.
