Stablecoins as a $9 Trillion ‘Economic Operating System’ in a16z’s Arc Investment Strategy

a16z’s Arc thesis reimagines stablecoins as a $9 trillion “economic OS” for global finance, facilitating accounts, payments, FX, and credit rather than merely acting as crypto payment conduits.

Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto division has released a new investment thesis on Arc, contending that stablecoins have evolved from merely being a payment method to becoming the foundation of a new economic operating system for global finance. Titled “The new stack for global finance: Stablecoins edition,” the essay describes stablecoins as a foundational component of a modular ecosystem where wallets, orchestration services, and credit networks connect to programmable dollars that operate on public blockchains.

a16z claims stablecoins now rival traditional payment systems

The key metric a16z relies on is scale. According to its State of Crypto research, stablecoins processed around $9 trillion in adjusted transaction volume in the past year, marking an 87% year-over-year increase that positions them at “over half of Visa’s volume and around five times PayPal’s” when assessed on comparable terms. Concurrently, the supply of USD-denominated stablecoins has surpassed approximately $270 billion, with some estimates suggesting the overall sector exceeds $300 billion as tokenized dollars replace bank wires and card systems in various applications like remittances, B2B transactions, and on-chain trading.

In the firm’s perspective, stablecoins have emerged as “the fastest, cheapest, and most global mechanism to send a dollar in under one second for less than one cent, nearly anywhere worldwide,” establishing them as an internet-native substitute for correspondent banking. This perspective echoes sentiments from bankers and regulators who increasingly recognize stablecoins as a macro-economic force, with a recent report from crypto.news highlighting U.S. community banks warning Congress of the potential drain on insured deposits from yield-bearing stablecoins offering dollar returns outside the traditional banking framework.

Arc as the stablecoin “operating system” layer

Amidst this landscape, a16z positions Arc as a platform that conceptualizes stablecoins as the fundamental building blocks for accounts, payments, foreign exchange, and credit, rather than simply a token transferred between wallets. The firm outlines a structure where companies cease to “rent bank licenses and access legacy systems,” opting instead to construct directly on wallets, programmable stablecoin balances, and APIs that merge account management, merchant payments, FX, and lending into holistic products.

This vision of an “economic OS” aligns with advances in on-chain finance, where established entities and startups alike are adopting tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure. A recent crypto.news article described how post-trade behemoth DTCC is working on a tokenized securities platform in collaboration with over 50 traditional and crypto firms, while another piece covered Kraken’s xStocks initiative to create parallel equity systems on-chain. In a wider DeFi context, an earlier article on earning passive income through decentralized finance emphasized stablecoins as a crucial funding element for lending, liquidity provision, and structured products, reinforcing why a16z now regards them as the core “OS” for a new financial stack instead of a mere side addition to speculative crypto markets.