Ripple survey says stablecoins become treasury tools

TLDR

Ripples new survey suggests stablecoins are moving from trading tools to mainstream instruments for corporate treasury and payments.

1. Ripple surveyed 1,000+ finance leaders, with 74% saying stablecoins improve cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital, a core treasury concern.
2. Fintechs already use stablecoins in operations, while corporates plan to adopt them via partners, and a separate Coinbase/EY survey finds 85% use or plan to use stablecoins for payments and treasury.
3. Adoption remains small versus global payment volumes and depends heavily on regulation, custody, and risk controls, so scale-up is likely gradual rather than instant.

Deep Dive

1. What Ripples Survey Actually Found

Ripples global survey of over 1,000 banks, asset managers, fintechs and corporate treasuries concludes that digital assets are now an operational imperative, not just a speculative bet, with 72% saying firms must offer digital asset solutions to stay competitive.

Within that, stablecoins stand out. Around 74% of respondents say stablecoins can improve cash-flow efficiency and free up working capital that is currently trapped in slow settlement systems, explicitly pointing to treasury management use rather than just trading or consumer payments.

Fintechs are furthest along: roughly 31% already use stablecoins to collect payments for customers and 29% accept payments in stablecoins, according to both Ripples own writeup and external coverage of the survey.

2. Why Treasurers Care About Stablecoins

Treasury teams care about three things this survey highlights: speed of settlement, visibility, and working capital. Stablecoins can shorten cross-border payment cycles and reduce the time cash sits in transit, improving liquidity for corporates and banks.

A separate Coinbase and EY-Parthenon survey of 351 institutional investors reports that 85% already use or plan to use stablecoins for payments and treasury operations, mainly for settlement and internal cash management. That lines up with Ripples findings that stablecoins are gaining traction as treasury tools, not only as trading collateral.

Infrastructure is catching up. Ripple and others now offer combined stacks of custody, payments and treasury tooling for institutions, letting treasurers interact with stablecoins without directly holding large on-chain balances or building their own infrastructure.

3. Limits, Risks, And What To Watch

Despite this momentum, stablecoins are still a tiny slice of real economy payments. Research cited in CoinsKid community pieces and McKinsey estimates suggests stablecoin payments are around 0.02% of global payment flows, and most on-chain stablecoin volume still relates to crypto trading rather than invoices or payroll.

Institutional treasurers also flag key risks: regulatory clarity, peg stability, counterparty and custody risk, and operational controls. That is why many prefer regulated stablecoins, strong custody partners, and integrated compliance rather than direct self-custody.

Watch three things if you care about this trend: 1) progress of stablecoin regulation in major markets, 2) how many corporates actually integrate stablecoins into ERP and treasury systems, and 3) whether B2B stablecoin payment volumes grow as a share of total usage.

Conclusion

Ripples survey fits into a broader pattern where stablecoins evolve from speculative trading chips into infrastructure for treasury and B2B payments, especially around cross-border liquidity and internal cash management.

The opportunity is significant, but scale depends on regulation, institutional-grade custody, and integration with existing finance systems, so the transition is likely to be steady and incremental rather than a sudden flip.