$1.5 Quadrillion in Stablecoins by 2035, and Most People Still Think Crypto is Just Bitcoin

Chainalysis, the blockchain analytics firm that works with the FBI, the IRS, the DEA, Interpol, and over 330 government agencies worldwide, published a report last week projecting that adjusted stablecoin volume could hit $1.5 quadrillion by 2035[1]. Yes, that’s quadrillion with a q. It should be noted, this is not some random punter on X.com looking for engagement. We’re talking about a company whose data has been used to convict dark web operators, dismantle ransomware gangs, trace North Korean hacking groups, and recover over $11 billion in stolen crypto for law enforcement agencies around the world. So, when Chainalysis puts a number on paper like that, governments listen, banks listen, regulators listen, and by gosh, investors should listen too[2]. The world needs 5X more lithium than it produces Lithium demand is projected to hit 5.5 million tons by 2040. Current global production: 300,000 tons. That gap is the entire investment thesis. EnergyX just commissioned the largest DLE lithium plant in the country. Producing battery-grade lithium now. 50,000 tons per year at full scale. A billion dollars in projected annual revenue. GM led their $50 million round and locked in first rights to the output. They project needing 400,000 tons a year for their EV lineup. They can’t get it anywhere else at this scale. Shares are $12. Price goes up after April 16. The gap between supply and demand isn’t an opinion. It’s arithmetic.* In 2025, stablecoins processed $28 trillion in adjusted volume. That’s after stripping out bot activity, wash trading, and liquidity noise. Just real economic activity, payments, remittances, settlement. The kind of transactions that actually move goods, pay people, and keep businesses running. Chainalysis says this figure has been growing at a 133% compound annual growth rate since 2023. If that baseline holds with no additional catalysts, the projection is $719 trillion by 2035. But Chainalysis doesn’t think the baseline holds. They see two massive accelerants about to kick in. The first is the generational wealth transfer. Between 2028 and 2048, an estimated $100 trillion will move from Boomers to Millennials and Gen Z. According to Gemini’s 2025 survey, nearly half of those younger generations have held or currently hold crypto. These aren’t people who need to be convinced stablecoins work. They already use them. The second is point-of-sale saturation. Chainalysis projects that stablecoin transaction counts could match Visa and Mastercard’s off-chain volumes somewhere between 2031 and 2039. And if adoption curves follow the non-linear pattern that payment networks typically do, it could happen well before 2030. Factor both of those in, and the $719 trillion baseline doubles to $1.5 quadrillion. That’s larger than today’s entire global cross-border payments market. When the payment rails change like this, everything built on top of them changes too. Lending, treasury management, payroll, trade finance, capital markets. Stablecoins settling in seconds, operating around the clock, moving across borders without correspondent banking friction, these aren’t theoretical improvements anymore. They’re operational advantages that are already pulling volume away from legacy systems. Stripe acquired Bridge to build stablecoin infrastructure into its core payments stack. Mastercard partnered with BVNK to connect on-chain and fiat rails. These big bets from companies processing trillions of dollars a year, that the plumbing of global commerce will be on blockchain. And this connects directly to the tokenization thesis I’ve been hammering on about. The NYSE and NASDAQ moving to tokenized equities. Deutsche Borse buying a huge chunk of Kraken (more on that soon). Stablecoins are the lubricant that makes all of that work. Without fast, cheap, programmable money settling onchain, none of the tokenization, none of the 24/7 trading, none of the borderless capital markets happen at scale. Chainalysis, the same company that governments trust to track every illicit dollar moving onchain, is telling you it’s coming and will be over $1.5 quadrillion in size. It sounds a little cliché, but if that’s the case… you’re still early. Trust in crypto, Adam Atlantic [1] https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/stablecoin-utility-future-of-payments/ [2] https://www.fastcompany.com/91270770/chainalysis-most-innovative-companies-2025 *Disclaimer: This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX's Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.energyx.com/. Under Regulation A+, a company has the ability to change its share price by up to 20%, without requalifying the offering with the SEC.