Regional banks must partner with crypto startups now

The GENIUS Act has turbocharged the United States stablecoin market, and the U.S.’s biggest banks are already cashing in. Regional banks must partner with crypto startups now if they are to bridge the digital gap, provide customers with access to the market, and share in booming stablecoin revenues. If not, they risk being locked out of the market entirely by their larger counterparts.

In such a gloomy, bearish market environment, stablecoins have emerged as the unlikely winners. Courtesy of the dial-moving GENIUS Act, the market has been given its long-overdue seal of regulatory approval, seeing a mass uptick in consumer sentiment and institutional embrace as a result. Demand is high, mood is high, and the market is at its peak. And with a huge upside ready for the taking, regional banks cannot afford to miss out on their time in the spotlight.

Stablecoin transaction volumes rose to a record $33tn in 2025, and JPMorgan’s payments division generated over $4bn in revenue in Q2 alone last year after launching its own token. Amid current reports of earnings surges across Wall Street, one thing is clear to me: those who take the risk and invest in their ability to facilitate stablecoin transactions will win customers and revenues.

Of course, there is an obvious difference in scale between the Big Four and regional banks — but regional institutions do not need to dominate the market to benefit from it. Even in states that you’d expect to be brick-and-mortar strongholds, like Wyoming, consumer demand is booming. 

Crucially, regional banks also have a strong presence in these communities. By tapping into stablecoins, they can attract new customers, including higher earners who are more likely to adopt cryptocurrency-based payment methods. Attracting and retaining customers are two of the biggest problems executives at these banks tell me they face, which is exactly why stablecoins must become a strategic priority if they are going to expand their customer base.

The problem is that many regional banks are already behind the curve on industry digitalization. It’s no secret that these capital-tight institutions don’t have the billion-dollar budgets of Bank of America and JPMorgan to invest in new technology, specialized stablecoin-friendly infrastructure, and in-house experimentation. That then leaves the question: how can these banks offer customers access to the stablecoin market, quickly, cost-effectively, and before the Big Four captures the bulk of consumer demand?

My answer is to partner with agile, frontline crypto startups. There are hundreds of cryptocurrency payment startups operating across the U.S. that can help regional banks bridge the digital gap. Equally, by leveraging startups’ tech-forward infrastructure, regional banks can skip costly in-house experimentation to meet consumer demand more efficiently.

On a larger scale, this way of thinking has already proven successful. JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, and others have partnerships with a variety of small- to large-cap crypto businesses, including Coinbase, Circle, and the startup Digital Asset. Non-traditional institutions, too, like Stripe, followed this route last year — acquiring the stablecoin orchestration platform Bridge to expand their offerings. It’s already tried and tested, which is why regional banks must also follow suit if they want a share of the spoils.

Of course, I’m not blind to the risks. The stablecoin market has a checkered past that carries significant reputational challenges, and regional banks are right to be cautious. Investors lost $40bn when TerraUSD crashed in 2022, and I have no doubt that weighs on executives’ minds.

But that was four years ago. Crypto — and indeed, stablecoins — are no longer the Wild West of financial services. In fact, with the GENIUS Act clarifying regulatory frameworks and strengthening anti-money laundering protections, stablecoins have become rapidly more mainstream in the global payments landscape for institutions and consumers alike.

Rather, concerns about the risks stablecoins pose are precisely why these partnerships are so critical. Regional banks, by working with regulated startups that already have technical frameworks, will be able to mitigate risk and avoid the costly mistakes that could come with building untested systems in-house.

The bigger danger facing regional banks is inaction. The four biggest U.S. banks currently command over half the industry’s total profits — and their dominance will only grow as they sweep up payments revenues. As regulation matures and larger banks lock in early market share, regional banks face a narrowing window of opportunity to capitalize on consumer demand.

Given that these larger institutions are unlikely to want to dilute their potential share of stablecoin revenues across thousands of competitors, the race to meet consumer demand is well and truly underway. If regional banks wait, they will gift industry titans yet another competitive edge, one that they just cannot afford to lose.