M0's Luca Prosperi says stablecoin issuance is a commodity as supply tops $300 billion
The M0 chief says the money is now in what stablecoins power, not in issuing them, though two issuers still hold 85% of supply.
- Luca Prosperi said on Oct. 7, 2026, that issuers are commoditizing stablecoin issuance and passing yield to distributors.
- Stablecoins worth $302.8 billion circulated on Oct. 16, and USDT and USDC held about 85%, according to DefiLlama.
- Paxos's Global Dollar Network shares reserve yield with partners and reached Arbitrum on Oct. 6, 2026.
Luca Prosperi, co-founder and chief executive of M0, says issuing a stablecoin is becoming a commodity business, and that the value now sits in the software built on top.
He makes the case as stablecoin supply stood at $302.8 billion on Oct. 16, 2026, according to DefiLlama.
Prosperi set out his view on stage at TOKEN2049 in Singapore on Oct. 7, 2026, in a keynote titled "What Is Next for Stablecoins". M0 builds infrastructure that lets companies issue and use their own stablecoins.
A $300 billion market led by two issuers
Stablecoin supply has flattened at a high level. Supply rose 0.74% over 30 days to $302.8 billion, according to DefiLlama.
The leaders moved apart over the month. USDT rose 0.08% in 30 days, while USDC fell 1.14%, according to DefiLlama.
Two tokens dominate. Tether's USDT had a $183.4 billion market cap, or 60.57% of the total, and Circle's USDC had $72.8 billion, by the same data. Together they held about 85%, our calculation shows.
The Federal Reserve sees the business moving toward payments.
Governor Christopher Waller said on Sept. 29 that much has been said about how stablecoins could improve cross-border payments, and that the micropayments AI agents make favor rails with low flat fees, in a speech at Sibos.
'No money to be made'
Prosperi said nobody wanted to build stablecoin infrastructure when M0 started in early 2023. "And the reason was that there was no money to be made in stablecoins," he said.
Higher interest rates changed that by making reserves profitable for issuers, he said. He pointed to Stripe's $1.1 billion acquisition of an orchestration company as the moment the crowd arrived.
His view is that stablecoins have returned to what they were meant to be. "Stablecoins were a platform that was needed for other people to build very cool stuff on digital rails," he said.
Issuance as a commodity
"Most of the issuers in stablecoins are actually commoditizing the act of issuance," Prosperi said.
He said large payment companies now launch stablecoins that pass reserve yield to the firms that distribute them, which leaves little margin in issuing or routing.
The check: the yield-sharing model is spreading.
Paxos began issuing its USDG stablecoin natively on Arbitrum One on Oct. 6, and Arbitrum joined Paxos's Global Dollar Network, which shares reserve yield with partners that drive demand, KuCoin reported. The network has more than 150 partners, by the same report.
Market share tells a different story. If issuance were a pure commodity, share would spread out. USDT and USDC still hold about 85% of supply, and USDG, at about $3 billion, ranks seventh, KuCoin reported.
Stablecoins as software
Prosperi said the growth is now in products. "Everything that can actually serve customers is now using stablecoins as a piece of software," he said, from credit cards and neobanks to yield and insurance products.
M0 builds the parts underneath. "We're building de facto tokenized bank accounts for on-chain economy," Prosperi said, describing wrappers that let users enter an app with USDC, USDT or other tokens.
His aim is to stay out of the way. "We just want to build seamless, neutral, invisible infrastructure that works," he said, and he invited builders to ask M0 for the features they need.
The check: machine payments, one use he expects, are growing in count. AI agents have made more than 138 million payments over the x402 protocol, according to Chainalysis data reported by Blockhead.
By the numbers
| Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stablecoin supply | $302.8 billion | Oct. 16, 2026 | DefiLlama |
| Change over 30 days | +0.74% | Oct. 16, 2026 | DefiLlama |
| USDT market cap | $183.4 billion | Oct. 16, 2026 | DefiLlama |
| USDC market cap | $72.8 billion | Oct. 16, 2026 | DefiLlama |
| USDT and USDC share | about 85% | Oct. 16, 2026 | our calculation |
| x402 payments by AI agents | more than 138 million | Oct. 15, 2026 | Chainalysis via Blockhead |
The other side: concentration and uncertainty
Prosperi was candid about how much is unknown. "We don't really know what is going to be next for stablecoins," he said.
He is "a massive believer of machine to machine financial flows," he said, but he doubts AI agents will soon buy tickets for their users. Most x402 payments were between $0.0001 and $0.10, according to Chainalysis, so the dollars involved remain small.
The concentration in USDT and USDC also suggests that distribution and liquidity still favor incumbents, even as new issuers give yield away.
What to watch: yield sharing and new issuers
The first signal is share. If yield-sharing networks such as Paxos's grow their tokens' supply, USDT and USDC's combined 85% will fall.
The second is products. M0's bet is that cards, neobanks and yield products built on stablecoins will grow faster than issuance itself.
The third is agent payments. Rising dollar volumes, not only counts, would support Prosperi's belief in machine-to-machine flows.
What we do not know is how much of the reserve yield distributors keep once issuance margins fall.
How we reported this: Prosperi's remarks come from his Oct. 7, 2026, TOKEN2049 Singapore keynote, checked against the video's auto-generated captions. Supply figures come from DefiLlama as of Oct. 16; the 85% share is our calculation: ($183.4 billion + $72.8 billion) / $302.8 billion. Paxos network details come from KuCoin's report; x402 counts from Chainalysis as reported by Blockhead.