Traditional bank accounts remain an important tool for consumers to manage funds, but their long-standing position as a core channel for storing and transferring funds is facing continued pressure from stablecoin wallets and other digital wallet products. Consulting firm Bain said in its latest report that as digital financial services continue to develop, competition in the consumer account sector is intensifying.
Bain’s data shows that traditional banks’ share of revenue in consumer finance is expected to fall from the current 80% to 69% in 2030. This proportion once reached 95% in the early 2000s, meaning that the dominant position of traditional banks in consumer financial services has undergone a clear change.
Since first emerging in 2009, digital banks (Neobanks) have begun competing with traditional banks, and now stablecoin wallets are becoming an important participant in this change. Stablecoin wallets can store digital dollars and support around-the-clock transfers, while also eliminating the need to rely on traditional bank accounts and routing numbers when used across borders.
The market is still discussing a key question: Will stablecoin wallets eventually replace traditional bank accounts, or will they exist as a new financial services layer built on top of the banking system?
Adrian Cachinero, co-founder of decentralized finance company Steakhouse Financial, recently said that bank accounts are facing an existential-level challenge, and believes that his daughter may never even need to open a traditional bank account.
Ryne Saxe, CEO of crypto wallet company Eco, believes that the goal of wallets in the future will be to provide a simpler way to manage funds.
“The ultimate goal is clear: a simple balance that is always earning yield, equipped with a universal address, no longer requiring an account and routing number, and using a login method similar to a passkey,” Ryne Saxe said. He also pointed out, “Stablecoins are simply better money. To attract users and remain competitive, banks and fintech companies have no choice but to build services on stablecoin networks.”
However, stablecoin wallets are currently more likely to first change the payments sector rather than directly enter the credit and savings markets.
Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder of blockchain oracle network RedStone, said wallets are most likely to first gain market share in payments rather than credit or savings.
“A bank account integrates three major functions: payments, savings, and credit. Stablecoin wallets have already gained an advantage in payments through high-friction channels,” he said. “Banks face the risk of holding licenses, while wallets control the customer relationship.”
This change is particularly evident in international payments. Citing World Bank data, Kazmierczak pointed out that the average cost of bank remittances reaches 14.99%, while the global average is 6.36%. In comparison, stablecoin transactions can settle within seconds, with fees below 1%.
However, the development of digital wallets does not mean that the future will necessarily move toward complete self-custody, nor does it mean that banks will completely disappear from the financial system.
Ran Goldi, Senior Vice President of Payments at Fireblocks, expects banks will be more likely to issue tokenized deposits that can interoperate with stablecoins in the future, rather than simply being replaced by stablecoin wallets.
“What I actually expect is that banks will begin issuing tokenized deposits that interoperate with stablecoins, rather than stablecoin wallets simply replacing bank accounts,” Ran Goldi said. “So it’s not ‘stablecoins win,’ but rather ‘bank accounts become programmable.’”
Alvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet, also believes that the boundary between traditional bank accounts and digital wallets will become increasingly blurred in the future.
“Accounts are becoming more open and portable,” Alvin Kan said. “Funds are no longer limited to a single institution and jurisdiction. Users can hold digital dollars and achieve real-time movement across borders, platforms, and financial applications.”
This trend is also supported by data on user preferences. BVNK’s 2026 data shows that 77% of cryptocurrency users prefer to open stablecoin wallets through their existing banks or fintech companies rather than managing wallets themselves.
At the same time, banks still possess advantages that stablecoin wallets are temporarily unable to completely replace. Jody Mettler, COO of BitGo and President of BitGo Bank & Trust, pointed out that banks can provide custody, compliance, and consumer protection services that wallets cannot completely replace.
“Stablecoin wallets operate natively on 24/7 digital payment networks,” Jody Mettler said. “Bank accounts have not disappeared. They have been compiled into code.”
However, the security risks of stablecoins and the related tokens themselves still deserve attention.
Resolv’s USR fell by approximately 70% in March because an attacker minted unbacked tokens and withdrew $25 million. Meanwhile, StablR disclosed in May that USDR and EURR had been issued without authorization, following a security vulnerability incident.
Therefore, traditional banks are unlikely to disappear in the short term. A more likely scenario is that consumers will use digital wallets more frequently for daily fund management and payments, while regulated financial institutions will continue to undertake fund custody and related protection functions.