Wall Street's largest financial institutions are rapidly moving into the stablecoin market. A 21-bank consortium, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Santander, and Deutsche Bank, has committed roughly $270 million to fund five years of operations for a joint dollar-stablecoin venture targeting a 2027 launch. The initiative, codenamed Project Faro, aims to compete in a market currently dominated by Tether and Circle, which control approximately 85% of a roughly $290 billion stablecoin market.
The push by traditional finance into onchain dollars represents a shift from stablecoins' origins as a cryptocurrency-trading tool. Several major financial players have already begun shipping products and expanding services.
Recent Moves by Financial Institutions
SoFi has positioned itself as the first stablecoin issuer from a U.S. national bank, expanding SoFiUSD onto Polygon, Ethereum, and Solana. The stablecoin reaches the bank's 17 million-plus members. SoFi also launched SoFi Earn, a tokenized deposit paying 4.40% yield that converts into SoFiUSD, and has begun settling its card program over Mastercard's network.
Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank, is positioning itself as a settlement backbone. Its tokens can now settle transactions on Visa's network, beginning with Western Union's USDPT token, and the firm has anchored both sides of the U.S.-Mexico stablecoin corridor for remittances.
Mastercard launched a Global Money Platform with acquired stablecoin firm BVNK, rolled out a Stablecoin Security tool for fraud screening, and unveiled Agent Pay for Machines, allowing AI agents to transact in stablecoins. Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement program across multiple blockchains.
Circle has struck a deal to bring USDC settlement to banking rails in Latin America, starting with a Colombia pilot and expanding into dozens of emerging markets.
The Regulatory Catalyst
The GENIUS Act, signed in 2025, created the first U.S. framework for dollar-pegged tokens, providing regulated institutions with a clear regulatory pathway into the business. The regulatory clarity has accelerated traditional finance's entry into a market it had largely observed from the sidelines.
While Project Faro remains early-stage without a finalized token, CEO, or official name, and Tether and Circle continue to dominate the market, the direction is clear: the onchain dollar has moved from crypto's exclusive domain to contested ground among Wall Street banks, payment card networks, and established stablecoin operators.
