Stablecoins are moving from crypto into the real economy – and Europe may only be at the beginning

For most people, stablecoins are still closely associated with cryptocurrency, digital wallets and crypto exchanges. That is understandable, because this is where they first gained widespread use. But something more interesting is beginning to happen: stablecoins are gradually moving beyond the crypto ecosystem and becoming part of the infrastructure used to move money, settle transactions and potentially connect digital capital with investments in the real economy.

A stablecoin is not necessarily an investment in itself. A euro stablecoin is generally designed to maintain the value of one euro, just as a dollar stablecoin such as USDC is designed to track the US dollar. What makes the development interesting is not whether a stablecoin increases in value, but what becomes possible when digital money can move efficiently between investors, financial institutions and real-world investments.

The infrastructure already exists at significant scale. According to Chainalysis, Central, Northern and Western Europe received approximately $987 billion in on-chain cryptocurrency value between July 2023 and June 2024, with stablecoins representing a substantial part of this activity. This does not mean that hundreds of billions are being invested into European companies, properties or bonds using stablecoins. Blockchain volumes include trading, payments, transfers and settlement. What it does show, however, is that digital capital already exists at enormous scale. The interesting question now is what happens when some of that capital begins moving into traditional investments.

Traditional finance is already moving

Some of the world's largest financial institutions are already developing infrastructure connecting blockchain technology with traditional assets such as bonds, money-market instruments and private credit. J.P. Morgan is one of the institutions at the forefront of this development. Through Kinexys, the bank has developed blockchain-based financial infrastructure, while J.P. Morgan Global Research has estimated that the global stablecoin market could grow towards approximately $500–750 billion in the coming years.

A good example came in December 2025, when J.P. Morgan arranged an issuance of US commercial paper for Galaxy Digital on the Solana public blockchain. Both issuance and redemption proceeds were settled using USDC stablecoins. The important point here is that USDC was not being used to buy Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. A stablecoin was being used as the settlement asset for a traditional capital-market instrument.

At the same time, tokenised real-world assets are growing. According to J.P. Morgan's Kinexys business, more than $29 billion of tokenised real-world assets were already live on public blockchains. Europe is beginning to move in the same direction, and the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, MiCA, has created a common regulatory framework covering crypto-assets and stablecoins, including requirements around issuers, reserves, transparency and supervision.

Euro-denominated stablecoins remain small compared with their dollar equivalents, but that does not necessarily limit European investors to euro stablecoins. Digital capital held in assets such as USDC could potentially be converted through regulated infrastructure into euros, Danish kroner, Swedish kronor or other currencies before being deployed into an investment.

From digital capital to real estate

This is where the development becomes particularly interesting for real-estate financing. Imagine an investor holding €50,000 worth of stablecoins in a digital wallet who wants to invest €10,000 in a European property-financing opportunity. The investor would still have to complete all the normal regulatory requirements, including identity verification, KYC and AML, and would still need to understand the investment, its security, duration, expected return and risks.

The difference would simply be how the money enters the investment. Instead of transferring €10,000 from a traditional bank account, the investor could potentially transfer a supported stablecoin through regulated payment infrastructure. It could then be converted into traditional currency and deployed into the underlying property financing.

The property developer would not need to receive cryptocurrency, and the property itself would not suddenly become a crypto asset. From the developer's perspective, the financing could still arrive in euros, Danish kroner or Swedish kronor. The investor would simply have used digital money as the route into a traditional real-world investment.

This distinction is important to how we at Crowdster view the opportunity: the stablecoin is not the investment. The real-estate loan is the investment. The stablecoin is simply the infrastructure that can move the investor's capital into it.

Why this matters for Crowdster

Crowdster already operates between two groups that need each other. Property developers across Europe require capital to acquire, renovate and develop properties, while investors are looking for opportunities where they can understand what their money is financing and evaluate the underlying security and risk.

Traditionally, the bridge between these two groups has been built almost entirely around the banking system, and banks will of course continue to play an enormously important role. But hundreds of billions of dollars are now held globally in stablecoins, while millions of people have become comfortable owning and transferring digital assets. If regulated infrastructure can connect even a small part of that capital with real-estate financing, it could create an entirely new investor channel.

A future Crowdster investor could potentially identify a property-financing opportunity on the platform, complete all required investor and compliance procedures and transfer digital capital through a regulated payment partner. The stablecoins could then be converted into fiat currency and the capital deployed into the underlying property loan.

For the developer, very little would change. The project could still receive normal fiat currency into its financing structure. For the investor, however, capital that previously existed within the digital economy could now be put to work in the real economy. And importantly, the return would still come from exactly the same place: the underlying investment.

Building the bridge

There are still important questions to solve. Stablecoins require appropriate regulation, robust AML procedures, secure custody and efficient conversion between digital and traditional currencies. Investor protection, taxation and cross-border rules must also be respected. None of this will happen overnight, but financial infrastructure has always evolved gradually. Online banking did not replace bank branches overnight, just as mobile payments did not suddenly replace payment cards.

What is interesting today is the direction of travel. Stablecoins are growing, MiCA has created a European regulatory framework, tokenised real-world assets are already live on public blockchains, and major financial institutions are demonstrating that blockchain and stablecoins can be used in connection with traditional financial instruments.

For Crowdster, the opportunity is not about turning real estate into crypto. It is about building a bridge in the opposite direction – allowing digital capital, through regulated infrastructure, to find its way into real-world European investments.

Ultimately, the questions investors ask are unlikely to change very much: What am I investing in? What asset stands behind my investment? What security do I have? How long is my capital committed? What return can I expect, and what are the risks? There may simply be one additional question: How easily can I move my capital?

If stablecoins can make that part faster, easier and more international without compromising the others, they could become an important part of the future of European investing. That is the opportunity Crowdster is watching, because while stablecoins may have started as money for the crypto economy, their next chapter could be about financing the real economy.

Sources

J.P. Morgan Global Research – What to Know About Stablecoins.

J.P. Morgan – J.P. Morgan arranges landmark U.S. Commercial Paper issuance on Solana Public Blockchain for Galaxy Digital Holdings LP, December 2025.

J.P. Morgan / Kinexys – Research concerning institutional blockchain infrastructure and tokenised real-world assets.

Chainalysis – European crypto adoption and stablecoin research.

European Central Bank (ECB) – Research concerning euro stablecoins, tokenisation and DLT settlement.

Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) – DLT-Based Capital Market Report 2025 FY.

European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) – Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer or a solicitation to invest. Investments involve risk, including the potential loss of invested capital. Market statistics, examples and projections are not guarantees of future developments or investment returns.