The Game Under Freezing Rights: Questions about the Neutrality of Stablecoins and the Path of Financial Infrastructure

In the past month, Tether has frozen $182 million worth of USDT related to suspected fraudulent activities. Meanwhile, Visa officially announced a partnership with Circle to provide USDC-based settlement services for U.S. banks. On one side, private issuers exercising freezing rights have sparked questions about the neutrality of “decentralized finance,” while on the other side, traditional financial giants are proactively embracing stablecoin settlements, integrating them into mainstream payment systems.

The Double Face of Stablecoins: Crypto Foundation and Traditional Bridge

Stablecoins play a dual role in the crypto world: they serve as a bridge connecting traditional finance and decentralized finance, while also facing debates over neutrality and centralization control. According to a report by BlackRock in early 2026, the total market cap of stablecoins has surpassed $298 billion. Behind this figure are two vastly different development paths: private issuance models and increasingly strict regulatory compliance requirements.

The essence of stablecoins as a tool for value stability remains unchanged. Whether USDT or USDC, they aim to provide digital assets anchored 1:1 to fiat currencies(, usually the US dollar). However, the methods to achieve this anchoring vary, including fiat reserve backing, over-collateralized crypto assets, and algorithmic regulation mechanisms.

The circulation volume of stablecoins has become an important indicator of activity in the cryptocurrency market. USDT, the largest stablecoin by market share, has a circulating market cap exceeding $170 billion, handling a substantial volume of transaction settlements.

Power Boundaries: Freezing Rights and the Controversy over Stablecoin Neutrality

On January 12, 2026, Tether froze $182 million worth of USDT on the TRON blockchain. This action was not an isolated incident. Data shows that between 2023 and 2025, Tether has frozen a total of $3.3 billion in stablecoins and blacklisted 7,268 addresses. These freezing actions reveal a fundamental contradiction: as a privately issued tokenized asset, stablecoins are exercising powers similar to regulatory authorities.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) pointed out in its report that stablecoins failed to pass key currency standards of “uniqueness,” “resilience,” and “integrity.” This directly highlights the limitations of stablecoins as a monetary tool, especially the ability of issuers to unilaterally freeze funds, which is fundamentally different from traditional banking systems.

As stablecoins are increasingly used in daily payments and cross-border transfers, the tension between centralized control and decentralized ideals becomes more apparent. The average transaction amount has decreased from $4,560 to $3,380, indicating that stablecoins are expanding from large crypto investments to small, everyday payments.

The Path to Integration: How USDC Connects to Traditional Financial Systems

Circle’s partnership with Visa marks a significant step toward integrating stablecoins into traditional finance. In December 2025, Visa announced that U.S. banks and fintech companies could use USDC for transaction settlements. This collaboration is more than just a technical integration; it signifies the formal acceptance of blockchain settlement methods by traditional financial infrastructure.

The first participating banks include Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, which have begun settling via USDC on the Solana blockchain with Visa. Visa plans to expand this service to more U.S. institutions within 2026.

Beyond settlement services, Visa’s consulting and analysis division has launched a “Stablecoin Advisory Business,” providing insights and recommendations on market fit, strategy, and implementation for banks, fintechs, merchants, and enterprises. This comprehensive service demonstrates how traditional financial institutions are systematically integrating stablecoin technology.

Cutting-Edge Technology: AI Agents and Perp DEX Fusion Innovation

The integration of AI agents with perpetual contract decentralized exchanges (Perp DEX) is opening new possibilities in DeFi. AI agents can analyze market trends in real-time and offer personalized coaching and risk management for traders.

Applications of AI in Perp DEX are moving from concept to practice. For example, AI can identify when the funding rate for BTC perpetual contracts spikes due to a surge in long positions and execute short trades against the trend. This technological fusion has generated several key use cases. First, risk management: AI agents can monitor funding rates, volatility, and collateral health, automatically adjusting leverage to prevent liquidations.

Partnership models between Perp DEX and AI agents are diversifying. The Sui ecosystem’s Perp DEX Astros announced a collaboration with AI crypto research platform Surf Copilot, integrating real-time analysis, trend judgment, and smart signals into on-chain trading interfaces. This cooperation aims to provide users with more efficient, lower-learning-curve trading experiences.

Infrastructure Revolution: Plasma and New On-Chain Payment Paradigms

Plasma, a Bitcoin sidechain supported by Tether, aims to become the ultimate settlement layer for USDT and Bitcoin. Its core design goal is to address current infrastructure limitations faced by stablecoins on general-purpose blockchains.

Plasma’s architecture is optimized for stablecoins and Bitcoin, employing account abstraction technology for zero-fee USDT transfers and a cross-chain bridge architecture that incorporates Bitcoin via a validator network. This specialized design directly responds to pain points in current stablecoin usage. Over 60% of the market share USDT still relies on general-purpose chains not designed for payments, requiring volatile Gas tokens for transfers.

Plasma’s business model indicates Tether’s strategic transformation—from a “stablecoin issuer” to a “global payment infrastructure operator.” By building an autonomous settlement layer, Tether aims to recapture the billions of dollars in USDT transaction fees currently earned by public chains like Ethereum and Tron.

Future Outlook: Multi-Dimensional Development of the Stablecoin Ecosystem

The future of stablecoins will unfold along multiple dimensions. First, regulatory frameworks are being refined; the U.S. “Genius Act” came into effect in July 2025, officially recognizing stablecoins as legal payment tools. This provides a legal foundation for widespread stablecoin adoption.

Second, technological innovation, especially privacy and user experience enhancements through zero-knowledge proofs, account abstraction, and other advanced techniques, is expected to address challenges related to auditable confidential payments and gasless transactions.

In terms of application scenarios, stablecoins are expanding from crypto asset settlement tools to real economy payment settlement tools. Visa’s surveys in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey show that stablecoins are widely used for currency substitution, goods and services payments, cross-border transactions, and salary payments. The role of stablecoins as a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto world will become even clearer. BlackRock’s report states that stablecoins are “no longer niche products” and are becoming “a bridge between traditional finance and digital liquidity.”

When Plasma’s native USDT increased from 4 million to 37 million within a week, the market responded most directly. Retail users are spending USDT at millions of terminals worldwide via Plasma One cards, while institutional investors are deploying Bitcoin into DeFi protocols through pBTC. The trajectory of stablecoins is now clear—evolving from trading pairs on exchanges to financial pipelines connecting real-world assets with on-chain ecosystems. In this pipeline, not only value flows but also the potential to reshape the global financial architecture.