Could stablecoin regulation raise bitcoin prices?
Welcome to the Canadian Crypto Observer. Financial journalist and author Aditya Nain offers perspective on market-moving headlines to help Canadian investors navigate the cryptocurrency market.
Stablecoins are in the limelight. What are they?
A stablecoin is a blockchain-based currency (cryptocurrency), the value of which is designed to be stable relative to an underlying asset such as (and most often) the U.S. dollar. For example, one Tether (USDT, the largest stablecoin on the market) is designed to be equal to one U.S. dollar. You could think of stablecoins as the cash of the crypto ecosystem: they’re what you hold when you want to remain within the crypto ecosystem without exposing your money to the high volatility of coins such as bitcoin (BTC) or ethereum (ETH) or Solana (SOL).
Stablecoins are so important to the crypto ecosystem that:
- In April 2025, stablecoins accounted for over 50% of on-chain transaction volume.
- Two of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies (by market capitalization) are U.S.-dollar stablecoins: Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC.
- As of May 25, 2025, USDT and USDC have a combined market cap of over $218 billion dollars (all figures in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified). To put this into perspective, that’s a little lower than Netflix ($230 billion) and a little higher than McDonald’s ($210 billion).
Although stablecoins are important to crypto, they’re also dangerous if not properly regulated, as explained in my previous column). To address this issue, on June 17, 2025, the U.S. Senate approved the so-called GENIUS Act, which seeks to provide a regulatory framework for issuing U.S.-dollar stablecoins. (GENIUS stands for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins.”) It is not yet law. The U.S. House of Representatives must still vote on the GENIUS Act. That could happen as early as July—however, we can’t predict the timeline for certain.
Stablecoin issuer Circle goes public, gains over 800%
There’s another reason for crypto investors to take note of stablecoins right now: Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL, the company behind the stablecoin USDC) went public through an IPO on June 5, 2025. In its short trading life to date, it’s had a blockbuster listing and meteoric price rise:
- The IPO was priced at $31, and the stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at $69.
- On its first trading day, CRCL shares rose as high as $103.
- In less than a month, CRCL has touched a high of close to $300.
- As of the close of trading on June 24, CRCL was priced at $220.
- At its height of almost $300, CRCL was up over 800% from its IPO price of $31, and over 330% from its listing price of $69.
This stellar listing has highlighted the hunger on Wall Street for publicly traded crypto companies. It doesn’t hurt that, unlike many other tech IPOs over the past few years, CRCL actually turns a profit. In 2024, Circle saw revenues of $1.67 billion and a net profit of $157 million.
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Could Amazon and Walmart launch their own stablecoins?
Everybody—customers and merchants alike—hate pesky credit card fees. Each time you pay with your credit or debit card, companies like Visa or Mastercard charge what’s called an “interchange fee,” and for large companies this expense runs into billions of dollars per year.
Understandably, large retailers like Walmart and Amazon aren’t very happy with this, and (as reported by The Wall Street Journal) stablecoins could provide them with an additional payment method without the fees.
Imagine paying for your Walmart merchandise through a crypto wallet that holds money in the form of a Walmart-issued stablecoin—let’s call it WUSD. Say you make a purchase of $100. If you pay with your credit card, Walmart would lose about $2.50 to Visa or Mastercard in interchange fees. On the other hand, if you paid using WUSD, there would be no associated fees, allowing Walmart to potentially pass on the savings in fees to customers in the form of discounts or lower prices. Additionally, the settlement would be almost instantaneous, meaning Walmart would get the money immediately and could start to earn interest on it.
How would you get hold of WUSD? You’d buy it, possibly through the Walmart app. To the consumer, it could look like regular money or store credit that’s stored on the app. But on the app’s back end, it would be a cryptocurrency run on blockchain technology. The business case for this payment method: savings for the merchant and the consumer in the form of reduced fees.
Whether or not retailers like Walmart and Amazon go down this road will depend, to a great extent, on the fate of the GENIUS Act. If it passes into law, the road would be clear for these companies to design and implement stablecoins. If it doesn’t pass into law, the regulatory hurdles, uncertainty and risk may force them to shelve any stablecoin plans for now.
Canadians can now buy XRP via an ETF
Canadian ETF investors have a few more crypto ETFs to choose from. You can now buy and sell spot ETFs of XRP—the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
While bitcoin is digital gold and ethereum is a platform for decentralized applications, XRP is a utility token that enables fast and low-cost cross-border payments. A utility token is a cryptocurrency built to serve a specific purpose. Built by U.S.-based Ripple Labs, XRP is not just a concept—it’s actually used by some financial institutions as part of their cross-border payment services, such as remittance payments.
Here’s some key information about the XRP ETFs currently trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
| 3iQ XRP ETF | Purpose XRP ETF | Evolve XRP ETF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ticker | XRPQ | XRPP | XRP |
| Management fee | 0% for the first six months; then 0.59% | 0% until February 2026; then 0.69% | 0.75% |
| Assets under management (AUM) in CAD | $42.35 million | $21 million | $7.65 million |
| Eligible for registered accounts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Crypto price swings are common
Cryptocurrencies are speculative and highly volatile assets that are subject to significant price swings. Even stablecoins may not be “safe” if not backed adequately by real-world assets.
Investing in bitcoin and other crypto coins carries significant market, technological and regulatory risks. Invest in crypto only if it aligns with your investment goals, time horizon and risk profile, and stay vigilant about crypto scams.
Read more about crypto:
- Will bitcoin crash in 2025?
- Bitcoin tops USD$100,000 for the first time
- Price of bitcoin hits new high after Trump victory, and more crypto news
- How to protect your crypto from hacks
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