The Polkadot community wants to establish the blockchain network as a leader in stablecoin payments with a new proposal to boost adoption.

The proposal, which received unanimous community support, seeks to reduce the minimum balance for Tether's USDT and Circle's USD Coin (USDC)

The Polkadot community is looking to boost the blockchain’s role in stablecoin payments with a new proposal that could drastically increase adoption.

The proposal, which received unanimous community support, seeks to reduce the minimum balance for Tether’s (USDT) and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) on the Polkadot Asset Hub to $0.01 from the current $0.07.

According to the community, this move would drastically boost Polkadot’s attractiveness to stablecoin users. However, the blockchain would still have to implement additional upgrades, such as cutting transaction fees on Asset Hub by approximately 90% and implementing sub-1 block times on the network, to achieve its stablecoin payment goals.

The proposal reads in part:

“[These upgrades] together with super-apps such as Telenova, could make AssetHub (and therefore Polkadot) the home of cheap, fast & more importantly stable/ reliable stablecoin transfers — and serve as a perfect case study demonstrating the power of building on Polkadot.”

Nevertheless, community members agreed that the current proposal was a good start towards making Polkadot competitive against other blockchain networks that handle a large portion of remittances.

Stablecoins driving crypto adoption

One of the most successful real-world applications of crypto technology has been the emergence of stablecoins, especially in emerging markets like Nigeria.

Usually pegged to the U.S. dollar and designed to offer a stable alternative to volatile digital assets, stablecoins are used extensively by crypto users in struggling economies to hedge against their falling national currencies and as a payment method for goods and services.

Market experts predict a strong demand for stablecoins, with Ripple forecasting the market to cross $2.8 trillion by 2028. This growth has largely fueled the adoption of blockchain networks like Solana, Tron, and Ethereum, which together account for 87% of the $162 billion stablecoin market.

Recently, blockchain analyst Lookonchain highlighted that Tether (USDT) on the TRON network achieved a 24-hour trading volume of $53 billion, outpacing Visa’s average daily volume of $42 billion during the first quarter of the year.

Additionally, PayPal expanded its PYUSD stablecoin to the Solana blockchain, citing the network’s lower transaction fees and faster processing times as key advantages.