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Spark co-founder and CEO Sam MacPherson says stablecoins could triple to $3 trillion by 2030, with public blockchains like Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) capturing the liquidity that follows.

Why MacPherson Says the GENIUS Act Is the Real Catalyst

MacPherson told the Milk Road podcast Tuesday that stablecoin market cap has stayed flat for roughly a year, a sign he calls bullish given that previous bear markets saw stablecoin supply shrink outright. 

He expects the GENIUS Act, which takes full effect in January 2027, to push hesitant banks and institutions into the market at scale. 

“Every institution, every bank has some degree of a stablecoin plan at this point,” he said, calling a bank without one “negligent.”

Spark operates as a lending and liquidity layer sitting on top of the Sky ecosystem, formerly MakerDAO, managing roughly $3 billion in deployed capital. 

MacPherson said Spark already works with PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP), and has integrated its Spark Savings product into Robinhood’s (NASDAQ:HOOD) earn feature using the USDG stablecoin.

Why Ethereum Keeps Winning the Liquidity Race

Liquidity naturally consolidates on neutral public infrastructure rather than fragmenting across competing company-owned chains, MacPherson argued. 

He pointed to three examples of distribution-driven chains that extend their parent company’s own ecosystem:

• Coinbase’s (NASDAQ:COIN) Base
• Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) Chain
• Stripe’s Tempo

He predicted broader liquidity will keep gravitating toward Ethereum specifically, with Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) as a secondary contender. 

“If you have a competitor, you’re not going to use your competitor’s chain,” he noted, framing neutral infrastructure as the default long-term winner.

MacPherson also addressed a security call Spark made earlier this year: removing RSETH as collateral from its lending market in January, months before the Kelp DAO exploit hit the token in April. 

He credited the move to routine risk management rather than foresight, explaining that Spark limits itself to five approved collateral types and relies on rate limits and a triple-redundant price oracle system to reduce exposure to sudden failures.

Why Tokenized Equities Need Cheaper On-Chain Borrowing First

Tokenized stocks won’t move on-chain in any real way until borrowing costs there beat what traditional brokerages charge, MacPherson said. 

He pointed to firms like Interactive Brokers, which charge wide margins on loans today, arguing that blockchain lending markets create real competition that pulls rates down and eventually pulls capital along with them.

He also pointed to AI agents as a coming catalyst, predicting they’ll start moving money between accounts on their own to chase better yields. 

That shift, he said, could chip away at the fees banks currently rely on. Asked whether Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) closes above $100,000 by year-end, MacPherson kept it simple: “Over.”

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