Andreessen Horowitz's crypto arm says the word "stablecoin" has outlived its purpose, predicting the label will fade as digital dollars move into mainstream finance.
A16z's Stablecoin Rebrand Pitch
The argument appeared on May 1 in a post by Robert Hackett, head of special projects at a16z crypto. He compared "stablecoin" to "horsepower," a 19th-century metaphor that stuck around long after horses left the equation.
Stability, Hackett wrote, has stopped being the category's defining feature. He called it a prerequisite, not the product.
The post pointed to "digital dollars," "digital euros," and "onchain assets" as more accurate labels for what users are actually holding. Total stablecoin supply has now climbed past $300 billion, with corporations using dollar-pegged tokens as a payments rail rather than a trading tool.
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Why The Name Change Matters
Hackett argued that the term frames the category as a patch rather than a new primitive, anchoring users to an earlier mental model.
The pitch arrives as monthly stablecoin transfer volumes overtook America's main payment network, and as firms including Circle, Fireblocks, and Western Union build infrastructure around the asset class. Hackett expects the technology to fade into the background, the way "electric lighting" became just "lights."
A16z has been making this case for months. In its October 2025 State of Crypto report, the firm said stablecoins processed $46 trillion in annual transaction volume, nearly three times Visa's, and projected the sector could grow tenfold to more than $3 trillion by 2030.
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