Legacy forex, payments platforms ‘hate’ stablecoin adoption — Kevin O’Leary

Global foreign exchange and payments platforms are lobbying hard against stablecoins, which stand to significantly disrupt their business models, investor Kevin OLeary said during a keynote address at Consensus 2025. Legacy forex and payments platforms often extract large fees for servicing cross-border cash transfers and stand to lose out on revenue if regulated stablecoins become accepted as a cheaper, faster alternative, OLeary said at the Toronto conference.Currency trading is a multi-trillion dollar market and its old and ugly and inefficient, OLeary said, adding that [ t]he biggest threat to that monopoly or oligopoly is a regulated stablecoin.Once thats approved, the multi-trillion dollar FX market becomes efficient, transparent, and inexpensive, he said.Kevin OLeary speaking at Consensus. Source: CointelegraphStablecoin legislationUS lawmakers are working on legislation that stands to accelerate global stablecoin adoption, OLeary added.US Senators are aiming to pass the so-called Genius Act a framework for regulating stablecoins before the end of May. As soon as the SEC approves the stablecoin act, every regulator in the USs circle Abu Dhabi, Switzerland, England will follow, OLeary said.Whos worried about this? The financial services industry. They hate this idea, and theyre working very hard to stop that bill from happening right now, he added.OLeary said regulatory clarity for stablecoins may be a precursor to broader cryptocurrency reform that could potentially unlock trillions of dollars in institutional capital.When this language comes out, people will see really good refinement, a lot of progress, on things like consumer protection, bankruptcy protection, and ethics, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said during an event hosted by Coinbase's lobbying arm, Stand with Crypto.As of May 15, stablecoins are collectively worth nearly $250 billion in market capitalization, according to data from CoinGecko. Tethers US-dollar pegged stablecoin USDT is the leader, with a market cap of around $150 million, the data showed.Its followed by Circles USDC, another US-dollar pegged stablecoin with a market cap of more than $60 billion.Magazine:Bitcoin to $1M by 2029, CIA tips its hat to Bitcoin: Hodlers Digest, April 27 May 3