Stablecoins could disrupt parts of the traditional banking model while creating new opportunities for banks across digital financial infrastructure.
That was the view of panellists at the 2026 Capital Pioneer Digital Assets Summit.
During a discussion on stablecoins beyond payments, the speakers acknowledged the potential for stablecoins to reshape aspects of the traditional banking model – particularly where banks currently benefit from deposits, pre-funded balances and interest income.
However, the panel argued this does not mean stablecoins will replace banks altogether.
Raphaelle Moysan of Tokenised GBP said stablecoins could provide an independent bridge between different banks and tokenised deposit systems, while banks would retain important advantages including customer trust and links to the wider economy.
“I can see stablecoins disrupting parts of the system, but not the role of banks in the economy altogether,” she said. “The two will coexist.”
Meanwhile, Charles McManus, co-founder and non-executive director at ClearBank, said banks themselves will need to determine how they participate as digital assets become increasingly integrated into mainstream financial services.
“They need to have a strategy,” he said, arguing that this will become increasingly important as stablecoins, tokenised deposits and new digital payment channels become more widely used. This could expose banks to new forms of competition while also creating opportunities to participate in emerging financial infrastructure.
Banks can also participate elsewhere in the stablecoin ecosystem, including through custody, liquidity and the management of reserve assets.
Luke Dorney, head of custody at LMAX Group, said stablecoins themselves could become more deeply embedded in financial market infrastructure.
Stablecoins “will be an infrastructure layer” of financial markets, he said, pointing to areas including collateral, intraday settlement and the 24/7 movement of money.
Olann Kerrison, chief network officer at Velocity, meanwhile highlighted the potential for stablecoins to transform cross-border transactions.
He said their ubiquity could make them “almost like a faster payment system, but globally”, reducing reliance on banking hours and lengthy settlement times.
Far from becoming banks’ nemesis, stablecoins could complement traditional banking infrastructure and create new roles for banks across custody, liquidity, settlement and digital payments.
This article was written by Rhotic Media‘s James Hetherington.
