Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies tied to the US Dollar or some other benchmark, allow for the first killer app for crypto or blockchain set for rapid adaptation.
This is where Circle Internet comes in with its USDC stable coin. Cross border payments can now occur within seconds at a fraction of the cost of legacy wire transfers that take days to settle. Fiserv and others have come out with their own stablecoins and Visa/Mastercard have been experimenting with them-using Circle Internet in the process, to avoid being disrupted. To use bitcoin for this is more of an inconvenience and bitcoin is too volatile to accept as a form of payment. It has primarily just been a speculation tool or “store of value.” NFTs likewise were nothing more than another speculation instrument.
The problem with Circle is it has just gone public and has already risen sharply from a. $21 offering earlier this month, currently trading in the $200 range. I’d expect some sort of pullback but uncertain where or when.
FIUSD, Fiserv’s Stablecoin, uses Paxos and Circle for “infrastructure.”
https://www.investors.com/news/fiserv-circle-internet-crcl-stock-stablecoin-ipo/
It’s early days here but Circle is a potential disruptor with network effects/economies of scale.