According to Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx, AI-enabled micro-enterprises could significantly escalate stablecoin transaction volume as the global gig payments and freelance market grows.
In its second quarter industry report, Swyftx estimated that the global gig and freelance payments market could reach $2.1 trillion by 2033, with AI-enabled workers accounting for $775 billion in value. Swyftx’s baseline model projected that $262 billion of the AI-native cohort’s payment volume could be settled in stablecoins, with an assumed utilization rate of approximately 33%.
“We see vibration coding and the AI economy as a significant potential enabler of stablecoin adoption,” Pav Hundal, chief market analyst at Swyftx, told Cointelegraph.
“Adoption doesn’t happen just because the technology exists. It happens when the economics are compelling and the rules are clear. In the case of stablecoins, both of these conditions are already met.”
Stablecoins, whose market capitalization has doubled over the past two years to reach a record value of $1.79 trillion in June, are a clear indicator of demand for payment tools.
Freelancers drive development
Swyftx said the smallest companies, those with fewer than five employees, are now among the fastest adopters of AI, and the shift away from using AI in larger companies has created a up-to-date class of solopreneurs.
These lone workers operate across borders, often issuing invoices and settling amounts for which the conventional banking system and payment infrastructure were not optimized, he said. There are currently between six and 10 million of them worldwide, but this number is expected to escalate to 17 million over the next decade.
“Many of these individual founders will be sensitive to remittance and transaction fees. This is a potentially large market for stablecoins,” Hundal said.
Using stablecoins can save you thousands of dollars in annual transfer fees. source: Swyftx
Swyftx added that if its predictions are confirmed, “the institutional settlement layer below – over-the-counter liquidity, custody and income services for the platforms that process these payments – could capture a significant new source of revenue.”
Related: Stablecoin transaction volume reached a record high of 1.79 thousand in June. dollars
He added that the theoretical revenue stream could be as much as $1.3 billion by 2033, assuming total transaction, liquidity and custody costs of 0.5%.
Traditional methods are too tardy and high-priced
Traditional cross-border railways charge high fares, have multi-day billing windows and exclude users in over 50 countries.
Stablecoin transfers using Ethereum layer 2 networks can reduce these fees by 80% to 90%, saving the average freelancer about 86% annually on transfer fees, as Swyftx cited in the example.
The agentic AI payment Narrative may be another vital factor influencing stablecoin volume as AI agents cannot obtain bank accounts, so will likely apply crypto assets for payments.
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