Stablecoins are undergoing a profound transformation: shifting from being "traffic laborers" dependent on public chains like Ethereum and Tron to entering a new phase of "value capture" through building their own dedicated blockchains. The essence of this trend is issuers reclaiming control over transaction fee distribution and ecosystem governance. Previously, massive transaction fees from USDT on Tron entirely accrued to the public chain. Now, by launching their own chains, entities like Tether and Circle can keep value directly within their ecosystems, for instance, by using the stablecoins themselves to pay Gas fees. Tether's Plasma chain has even pioneered zero-fee transfers, fundamentally disrupting the old model.
Another core driver for stablecoins building proprietary chains is ecosystem integration. As the cornerstone of market liquidity, stablecoins' daily trading volume now far surpasses that of Bitcoin. Operating their own blockchains not only means capturing fee revenue but also enables the integration of services like payments, lending, and cross-chain interoperability. For example, Circle's Arc chain features a built-in forex engine, targeting high-net-worth individuals and institutional markets. Tether's Stable chain, utilizing a dual-chain architecture and the gasUSDT model, aims to create a complete closed loop from issuance to payment. This evolution upgrades stablecoin issuers from mere "token providers" to full-fledged ecosystem platforms.
Technology and compliance are also key areas for breakthrough. Existing public chains often suffer from high fees or insufficient stability, failing to meet institutional demands. Proprietary chains allow for targeted optimizations: Stripe's Tempo chain supports multi-stablecoin fee payments and conditional payments; Circle Arc directly embeds compliance modules to meet KYC/AML requirements; Tron, by adopting the ISO 20022 standard and interfacing with banking systems, has obtained MiCA certification. These efforts not only address performance pain points but also seize the initiative within regulatory frameworks.
The competitive landscape is consequently evolving. With Tether's launch of the Stable chain, Tron faces potential significant loss in fee revenue. Circle, by boosting native demand for USDC, is eroding USDT's market share. Simultaneously, traditional financial institutions and crypto-native capital are converging: Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered have joined the Tempo consortium to explore cross-border payments, while DeFi protocols are deploying strategies on stablecoin-native chains, accelerating institutional adoption. Payment protocols, cross-chain interoperability, and compliance standards are becoming the new focal points of competition.
In summary, the move of stablecoins to proprietary blockchains represents not just an upgrade to the issuers' profit models, but signifies the industry's shift from "wild growth" to "value deepening." In the future, the public chains that can strike a balance between performance, compliance, and ecosystem stickiness are poised to become the core infrastructure of the digital economy era.
