As the number of one-person business owners and freelancers working with artificial intelligence (AI) grows rapidly, the stablecoin payments market could expand to $262 billion by 2033, a forecast showed. The analysis said adoption of stablecoins would widen as cross-border micro-payments increase, because stablecoins have advantages in cost and speed over traditional bank transfers.

Cointelegraph reported on Sunday that Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx, in its second-quarter industry report, forecast the global gig economy and freelancer payments market would grow to $2.1 trillion by 2033. It estimated that payments by so-called AI-native workers who use AI would reach about $775 billion.

Swyftx applied a base-case scenario that about 33 percent of that would be paid in stablecoins. It forecast the stablecoin payments market could expand to about $262 billion.

The report cited growth in micro-enterprises and solo founders running businesses with AI tools as a key driver. It said companies with fewer than five employees have emerged as the group most actively adopting AI, with AI use spreading from being centered on large companies to being centered on individual business owners.

Pav Hundal (파브 훈달), senior market analyst at Swyftx, said "Vibe Coding and the AI economy could be an important tailwind for wider use of stablecoins." He focused in particular on a structure in which freelancers and one-person businesses working for overseas clients frequently issue invoices and receive small payments. Hundal said "they have many cross-border payments and many small transactions that are inefficient to process through existing banking systems," adding that "stablecoins could be a suitable alternative for this payment method."

There are an estimated 6 million to 10 million AI-based solo founders worldwide. Swyftx forecast that figure would rise to about 17 million over the next 10 years. Hundal said "most of them are users sensitive to remittance fees and transaction costs," adding that "for stablecoins, it will be a very large potential market."

Market conditions are also supporting that outlook. The stablecoin market has nearly doubled in market capitalisation over the past two years, and trading volume in June hit a record high of about $1.79 trillion. The report described this as a sign that stablecoins are spreading as a practical payment method beyond simple cryptocurrency trading.

The limitations of existing international remittance systems were also cited as a competitive advantage for stablecoins. Cross-border remittances currently involve high fees and settlement times that can take several days, and in some countries access to financial services is often limited.

By contrast, Swyftx analysed that stablecoin transfers on Ethereum Layer 2 networks could cut costs by about 80 to 90 percent compared with existing methods. It also presented an example that an average freelancer could reduce annual remittance fees by about 86 percent.

The report forecast the growth potential of stablecoins would not be limited to payment services. It said payment infrastructure markets could also expand, including over-the-counter (OTC) liquidity provision and custody services for institutional investors, and yield-bearing financial products. Swyftx estimated that if transaction, liquidity provision and custody service fees are assumed at an average of 0.5 percent, the related institutional services market could generate revenue of up to $1.3 billion in 2033.

The report also pointed to automated payments between AI agents as an area to watch. It forecast that AI agents that cannot directly hold bank accounts are likely to use digital assets as a payment method.

Hundal said "if the expansion of the AI-based labour market and payment automation come together, stablecoin transaction volumes could grow another step," adding that "how quickly the AI economy leads to actual stablecoin adoption will be a key variable for the market going forward."