Stablecoins Surge as On-Ramp Fees Fall – Coinbase, MetaMask Target Cheaper USDC

Stablecoins are taking the payment sector by storm. A joint report from crypto market maker Keyrock and crypto exchange Bitso predicts that stablecoin payment volumes will exceed $1 trillion annually by the end of this decade.

This will likely be the case, as leading stablecoins have seen impressive growth recently. Tether’s USDT stablecoin reached a market capitalization of $104.1 billion in March of this year. Meanwhile, the market capitalization of Circle’s USDC stablecoin is currently hovering just above $67 billion.

On-Ramping Fees Hold Back Stablecoin Adoption

While strong growth has occurred, high on-ramp fees—the charges associated with converting fiat currencies into stablecoins—may hold back adoption.

Bakhrom Saydulloev, product lead at payment infrastructure platform Mercuryo, told Cryptonews that on-ramping fees have always been one of the biggest barriers for people entering the crypto sector.

Mercuryo has done a lot of research and has had direct conversations with our end-users. The message is consistently clear: high on-ramp fees are one of the strongest deterrents to purchasing cryptocurrency,” Saydulloev said.

For instance, Saydulloev explained that if a person wants to buy $1,000 worth of stablecoins but sees about $25 to $50 eaten up by fees, many will simply drop out.

He added that the majority of consumers still rely on methods for transacting in the traditional fiat ecosystem—such as credit or debit cards, bank transfers, and other legacy payment rails.

“All these options can carry high costs. It is for this reason that there has been a belief in the retail market among some that the fees for buying digital tokens are unreasonably high compared to the value proposition of digital money,” Saydulloev said.

In addition, high on-ramp fees can disproportionately impact people best positioned to benefit from stablecoins, such as those in emerging markets, the unbanked, and workers making cross-border remittances.

Lowering On-Ramp Fees To Drive Adoption

Saydulloev believes that lowering on-ramp fees will ultimately help drive mass adoption for stablecoins.

“By lowering these costs, we not only make the first transaction far less painful, but we also make the idea of using stablecoins for everyday requirements, such as payments, savings, and remittances, more appealing,” he said.

To demonstrate this, Saydulloev shared that Mercuryo recently announced a partnership with U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase to ensure lower fees for users on-ramping USDC via MetaMask. Specifically, this partnership will reduce on-ramp fees for USDC on Coinbase’s Layer-2 network, Base.

Saydulloev shared that on-ramping fees will be cut “significantly” for MetaMask users buying USDC on Base.

“On-ramp fees across the industry often reach up to 5 percent, depending on the payment method. Our goal is to drive those costs as close to zero as possible,” he said.

The popular cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask further expects this initiative to make an impact. Lorenzo Santos, senior product manager at MetaMask, noted that use cases for stablecoins in the wallet continue to grow, further driving demand for USDC.

“We anticipate rapid adoption of USDC among our ever-expanding user base,” Santos said.

Additionally, the MetaMask community just revealed a governance proposal to launch “MetaMask USD” (mmUSD) through a partnership with Stripe’s payment infrastructure. While this may potentially create a direct competitor to established stablecoins like USDC and USDT, it will likely increase stablecoin adoption across the platform.

Accessible On and Off Ramps Drive Stablecoin Adoption

While lower on-ramp fees will appeal to new and existing stablecoin users, ensuring easy access is just as important.

Tomer Weller, chief product officer at Layer-1 blockchain Stellar, told Cryptonews that one of the biggest drivers of crypto adoption is having accessible on and off-ramps.

Weller pointed out that the Stellar Development Foundation—the non-profit that supports the Stellar network—has focused on building on and off-ramp connections at scale. According to Weller, the main use case has been Stellar’s partnership with the global money transfer provider MoneyGram.

“‘MoneyGram Ramps’ is the world’s largest cash on and off-ramp network, enabling people in over 170 countries to convert stablecoins to cash at more than 450,000 physical locations. That means businesses, organizations, and everyday users can seamlessly on and off-ramp from USDC to their local currency,” Weller said.

Weller elaborated that Stellar provides the infrastructure that partners like MoneyGram, Ramps, and wallets use to allow stablecoin payments. This means that wallets built on Stellar can integrate MoneyGram Ramps to provide globally accessible on and off-ramping.

“This makes stablecoin use in daily payments practical and straightforward. It’s this ease of use that drives people around the world to continue to adopt stablecoins for payments on Stellar,” Weller commented.

Stablecoin Payments Via Social Media Messages

New initiatives to help make stablecoin payments easier are also emerging.

Danny Brown-Wolf, a consultant for crypto-adoption use cases in DeFi, told Cryptonews that social wallets, like Bankrbot—which is also an emerging decentralized finance AI agent—are simplifying the user onboarding experience by creating crypto-ready wallets for X and Farcaster accounts. This allows users to receive payments and financial transactions through direct messages, agent terminals, or social feeds.

“Most crypto wallets are a UX nightmare: seed phrases, bridges, gas fees, networks—way too much friction for 99 percent of people,” Brown-Wolf said. “Bankrbot flips that. Bankr creates wallets instantly (via Privy + X login). Users can then send money to someone who’s never used it. It meets people where they already are, inside the social feed.”

While Bankrbot is gaining traction for its ease of use, Brown-Wolf added that there are no transaction fees associated. “When you send a stablecoin to someone, you only pay for the network’s gas fees. There are no additional fees from Bankrbot,” she said.

Stablecoin Adoption Must Progress

Although stablecoins are quickly gaining traction, initiatives such as lower on-ramp fees and accessibility have become key for mass adoption. Regulatory clarity will also help the stablecoin market grow.

Saydulloev believes all of these factors are especially important given the current global macroeconomic backdrop.

“With inflation, currency volatility, and growing demand for reliable stores of value, this has all arguably created a window of opportunity for stablecoins to move into the mainstream,” he stated. “However, this may only be achieved with a combination of lower fees, regulatory clarity, and real-world incentives that will accelerate stablecoin adoption far beyond more speculative use cases.”

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