According to ChainCatcher, citing FinanceFeeds, Tether co-founder Reeve Collins said the stablecoin industry is entering a “2.0 era.” Collins described the current stablecoin infrastructure as still facing structural problems, with the next generation of solutions needing to address a central issue: users do not receive the yield generated by the reserve assets that support the tokens they use.
From “One Dollar for One Token” to Yield Distribution
Collins characterized the stablecoin 1.0 model as a simple structure in which “the user provides 1 dollar, and the issuer issues 1 token.” Under that model, users receive the convenience of payments and transfers, but they do not share in the income generated by the reserves backing the stablecoin. In his view, the next phase of stablecoin competition will focus on financial infrastructure and how reserve-related benefits are distributed.
He also said financial services will gradually become part of the underlying infrastructure, adding that “users will not care which bank sends the funds.” Within that framework, artificial intelligence agents may choose different financial ecosystems based on users’ interests. The competition around stablecoins, as described by Collins, therefore moves beyond issuance and circulation toward the broader structure of financial services.
Dollar Stablecoins, Regulatory Reach and CBDC Differences
On regulation, Collins disclosed that he still holds Bitcoin for the long term. He also noted that dollar-denominated stablecoins are essentially an extension of the U.S. financial system, which creates exposure to regulatory reach. This places dollar stablecoins within a broader discussion about financial oversight and the boundaries of digital money infrastructure.
Collins also drew a distinction between dollar stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. He said CBDCs could bring stronger programmability and greater financial monitoring capabilities. The discussion around the “2.0 era” of stablecoins therefore includes not only payments and reserve yield, but also the design of financial infrastructure, the scope of regulation, and differences between digital currency models.