Van Eck nicknamed Ethereum the Wall Street token in front of the boom in stablecoins

Ethereum, a “token of Wall Street”? This is how Jan Van Eck, CEO of the investment management company Vaneck, described it, suggesting that he could become the reference blockchain for banks when they are preparing for the rise of Stablecoins. He maintains that the growth of stablecoins pushes financial institutions to rethink the way in which they treat digital payments, and that Ethereum technology gives it an important advantage.

Van Eck on the bank and the stablecoins

Van Eck explains that banks and service providers will soon no longer be able to avoid stablecoins transactions. Consequently, the platforms most likely to dominate this space are Ethereum itself or other systems built on its underlying model. The blockchain's ability to support programmable financial applications can give it an advantage on other platforms.

This is really what I call the token of Wall Street. And what I mean by that is that, if you think that because of the stablecoins now, each bank and each financial services company must have a way to accept stablecoins.

Jan Van Eck

At the same time, the regulatory environment also evolves. With the entry into force of the Genius Act after his promulgation by President Donald Trump, the United States has introduced the first federal legislation which deals with stablecoins.

This development establishes a framework defining the place of these digital assets in the financial system and offers banks greater certainty while they are preparing to integrate them into their services.

Growth slows down, but Stablecoins reserves reach a record

The Stablecoins market shows signs of both strong adoption and slower growth. Here are the key figures that illustrate this trend:

• The market capitalization exceeded $ 280 billion, reflecting rapid expansion.
• Weekly growth in Capitalization of the Stablecoins market is now around $ 1.1 billionshowing a slowdown compared to the previous periods, according to cryptocurrency.
• The USDT 60-day growth is about $ 10 billion, down compared to previous peaks above $ 21 billion.
• Despite this slowdown, the Stablecoins exchange reserves reached a record of $ 68 billion on August 22, exceeding the previous peak of February 2022.
• The USDT represents most of these reserves with $ 53 billion, while the USDC has 13 billion.

Pressure banks to adapt

For Van Eck, these developments leave banks for little choice but to prepare. In an interview for Fox Business, Van Eck stressed that companies will have to adopt technology to manage stablecoins in the next 12 months. He noted that, although the transition can take time, financial services companies cannot afford to reject digital payments of customers.

To support this trend, a report of the Fireblocks digital asset platform shows that 90 % of the institutional actors surveyed explore means to integrate stablecoins into their operations.

In addition, companies' activity has played a central role in the recent dynamics of Ethereum. Cash companies have collectively acquired more than $ 6 billion ETH in the last month. Bitmine and Sharplink were the most prominent buyers. This wave of accumulation shows how Ethereum is positioned as a practical asset in corporate finance, rather than remaining limited to speculative trading.

According to this trend, the ETH reached a record at $ 4,946 on August 24. He has since dropped by around 5 %, exchanging around $ 4,600 at the time of the editorial staff.