Stablecoins are quietly reshaping how institutions manage liquidity. Last year saw chain-based settlements hit roughly $9 trillion—an 87% jump from the year before—flowing through collateral management, repo markets, and cross-border transactions.

It's not just theoretical anymore. Major players like Citi, Société Générale, and JPMorgan's JPMCoin are actively testing these digital cash alternatives. The appeal is obvious: faster settlement, lower intermediaries, always-on infrastructure.

But it's not frictionless. Risk management remains the elephant in the room. As adoption scales, so do the systemic questions around redemption guarantees, liquidity mismatches, and regulatory arbitrage. The institutional money is flowing in, but cautiously.