O’Connor: stablecoins scaled as money, not capital, leaving $315B largely idle

Stablecoins have become crypto’s “dollar layer” for trading, collateral, payments and settlement, but have not evolved into productive capital, John O’Connor wrote. Roughly $315 billion sits in stablecoins yet mostly behaves like digital cash in wallets, exchanges and corporate treasuries, according to CoinDesk, with prior crypto-native yield efforts often relying on circular token emissions rather than real economic activity. O’Connor argues the next step is linking onchain dollars to real assets such as money market funds, U.S. treasuries, corporate bonds and credit, noting tokenized treasuries are already worth billions and regulation—especially in the U.S.—could shape adoption.