How Stablecoin Institutions Can Build $1T+ Revenue Streams in 2026

Stablecoin supply sits at ~$300B as of today and consensus forecasts now point to $1T circulation by end-2026.

At $1T supply and conservative 4-4.5% net yield on short-term treasuries, interest income alone could exceed $40-45B annually across issuers.

Add layered fees and services, and individual institutions can realistically target $1B+ revenue streams in the next few years.

In this post we are going to dive deeper into the strategies that can significantly boost the revenue streams of stablecoin infrastructure companies.

Core Revenue Already Flowing = Interest on Reserves

Issuers hold reserves in cash/Treasuries and capture the yield.

Tether (USDT): Generated $5.2B in 2025 revenue
Circle (USDC): Q3 2025 revenue hit $740M (up 66% YoY), with USDC circulation at $73.7B (108% YoY growth). Full-year 2025 likely north of $2-3B.
Combined stablecoin protocol revenue topped $8.3B in 2025, mostly from reserve yields.

Projected Sector-Wide Revenue at $1T Supply

Base yield capture (4% net): $40B/year
At 4.5% yield: $45B/year

Transaction volumes: $33T in 2025, with subsets like payments/remittances growing 690% YoY on some platforms.

Even modest 0.05-0.1% fees on growing volumes add billions more.

This eclipses Visa/Mastercard's ~$30-35B annual revenues from legacy rails.

The Interest Income Math: From Billions to Tens of Billions

Stablecoin issuers primarily earn by investing reserves in safe, yield-generating assets like U.S. Treasury bills.

As of January 2026, with federal funds rates stabilizing around 4-4.5% post-Fed adjustments, short-term Treasuries are yielding an average of 4.2-4.8% annually.

Apply this to a $1 trillion supply:

At a modest 4% net yield (after minimal operational costs), issuers could collectively pocket $40 billion yearly.
Bump it to 5%, factoring in optimized reserve management or slight rate hikes and you're looking at $50 billion.

→ This scales directly with supply growth.

Flash back to 2024: Total stablecoin supply averaged ~$150 billion, yet Tether alone reported $13.2 billion in revenue, almost entirely from reserve interest (as disclosed in their Q4 attestation by BDO).

Circle, with ~$35 billion in USDC circulation mid-2024, hauled in $1.7 billion, 99% from yields on ~$34 billion in reserves.

Fast-forward to late 2025: Supply ballooned to $300 billion (Chainalysis report), driving combined issuer revenues north of $20 billion.

→ Extrapolating to $1T?

That's a 3.3x multiplier, aligning with forecasts from firms like 21Shares and JP Morgan, which see supply hitting $1-1.5T by EOY 2026 amid tokenized asset adoption and regulatory green lights (e.g., EU's MiCA framework boosting Euro-denominated stables).

5 Other Ways Stablecoin Institutions Are Monetizing in 2026

1) Issue Your Own or White-Label Stablecoin

Launch branded stables or partner for white-label (e.g., via Brale or Circle). Capture full reserve yield + brand loyalty.

LitFinancial launched litUSD (GENIUS-compliant) in 2025 for mortgage fintech use.

Banks/fintechs retain deposits while earning yield.

2) Capture Transaction & FX Spreads

Charge 0.1-0.5% on on/off-ramps, settlements, FX. Stablecoins cut costs 70%+ vs. traditional.

Premium pricing for instant global transfers.

Example: PayPal PYUSD integrates spreads in wallet ecosystem.

3) High-Margin Custody & Treasury Services

0.05-0.25% annual fees on AUC + compliance add-ons.

Fireblocks/ Coinbase Institutional already generate hundreds of millions from stable-heavy custody.

Bundled treasury optimization for corporates.

4) Enterprise APIs, SaaS & Partnerships

Monthly fees for APIs, compliance, cross-chain tools.

Circle's enterprise suite: $10K–$100K/month per client.

Partnerships with Visa/PayPal for settlement.

5) Yield-Bearing Products & RWA Tie-Ins

Offer yield-sharing stables or tokenized treasuries (e.g., BlackRock BUIDL). Take management cuts (0.3-0.5%).

Institutions bundle for higher user retention and fees.

Real Institutional Examples (2025-2026 Momentum)

JPMorgan (Onyx/JPM Coin): Processes $1B+ daily in permissioned settlements; evolving to stablecoin rails for fees and custody.
PayPal/Stripe: Pushing stablecoin payments; Stripe developing 2026 use cases.
Visa: Expanded USDC settlement to Solana/Ethereum with U.S. banks in late 2025.
Societe Generale/Euro stablecoins: Bundling enterprise services.
Fintechs (Revolut, Wise, Nubank): Using stables internally for FX/treasury, passing yields to users while capturing spreads.