Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan says stablecoins could still reach a combined market value of $4 trillion by 2030 if adoption broadens beyond crypto trading and into everyday commerce. He argued that recent tests by large technology and consumer companies may be an early indication of that shift.
Hougan pointed to pilots involving Meta and DoorDash as especially important. Meta has begun stablecoin payouts for creators in the Philippines and Colombia, while DoorDash has said it will offer stablecoin payments to users, workers, and merchants. Although both initiatives are small in scale, he said they help answer a long-standing question about whether stablecoins can move from speculative infrastructure to practical payment tools.
The current stablecoin market is just under $318 billion, far below the $4 trillion scenario Hougan described. Even so, he said the gap may not be as wide as it appears if major platforms begin integrating stablecoins into their existing payment systems. In his view, large technology firms are the kind of distribution channel needed for stablecoins to reach hundreds of millions of users.
Hougan said the appeal for multinational companies goes beyond lower costs and faster settlement. Stablecoins could also simplify cross-border payments by reducing dependence on banking intermediaries and currency conversions. For businesses handling large numbers of small transactions, that operational simplicity could become a major advantage.
Regulatory changes in the United States have also improved the outlook for experimentation. Congress passed the GENIUS Act last year, creating a framework for stablecoin issuance and reserve backing. That development has given companies more confidence to test the technology, and payments group Visa has already expanded its own stablecoin settlement pilot to additional blockchains as usage grows.
At the same time, US banks have warned that stablecoins could compete with deposits and weaken the traditional banking system. Lawmakers continue to debate broader crypto regulation, including proposals that would limit rewards on idle stablecoin balances. Banking groups say those measures do not go far enough.Aave Labs has moved closer to repairing the damage caused by the Kelp DAO exploit after liquidating the attacker’s remaining rsETH positions on Ethereum and Arbitrum. The action is part of the broader DeFi United recovery effort, which aims to restore rsETH backing and compensate users affected by the April 18 attack.
The liquidated collateral was transferred to the Recovery Guardian, a multisignature wallet overseen by DeFi United. Aave described the move as a critical step in the recovery process, while Galaxy Digital researcher Thaddeus Pinakiewicz said the effort is now only about 10% short of the Ether needed to fully restore the restaked ETH token’s backing.
The Kelp DAO exploit, estimated at $293 million, has been one of the most damaging crypto breaches of 2026. It sent shockwaves through decentralized finance by disrupting liquidity and weighing on confidence across the lending sector. Aave said user funds were not affected by the liquidations and that its Umbrella insurance mechanism was not required.
Aave previously said that clearing the attacker’s collateral on Ethereum and Arbitrum would free 13,000 Ether, worth nearly $30 million at current prices. However, a separate 30,765 ETH remains frozen by Arbitrum DAO in a legal dispute after Gerstein Harrow LLP filed a restraining notice to block redistribution of the assets. Aave has since filed an emergency motion seeking to remove that restraint.
The final decision on releasing the frozen Ether is still being voted on by Arbitrum DAO members, with more than 90% in favor of transferring the funds to the DeFi United fund. The vote is scheduled to close on Friday. DeFi United is also awaiting commitments from Circle, Ethena, Frax and Kraken-built layer 2 network Ink to complete the backstop needed to close the shortfall.
The fallout from the exploit has also begun to ease. Aave’s total value locked fell sharply after the attack, declining by nearly $12 billion in one week as the stolen rsETH was used as collateral to borrow wrapped Ether and more than $190 million in bad debt accumulated. Recent data from DefiLlama shows net outflows have slowed, and Aave’s TVL has recovered from a low of $14.2 billion on April 26 to above $15 billion.
