The Always-On Dollar: Money for an Economy that Doesn't Close

Below is a summarized version of The Block Research and Coinbase's The Always-On Dollar Money for an Economy that Doesn't Close report. The full PDF version of this report is accessible here.

The U.S. dollar is central to global business, but many of the systems that move it still follow banking hours. A worker in the U.S. wants to send wages home before the weekend. A manufacturer in Southeast Asia needs to pay an overseas supplier before a shipment leaves. An online business serves customers across time zones, including those where its bank is closed. Each needs money that moves when they do, but depend on a money system that is closed roughly a third of the time.

Stablecoins can make dollar payments work better for all three – and for the banks and institutions supporting them. Unlike legacy rails, stablecoins match the always-on and global nature of today’s economy. For people, faster, cheaper transfers can mean more money reaches home. For businesses, more efficient money movement keeps capital available for the next supplier payment or shipment, versus capital getting trapped in low/no yielding assets. For banks and payment providers, it can reduce the need to hold cash in advance to support transfers, freeing capital for other uses.

Demand for this always-on dollar is already visible at scale. Stablecoins are moving nearly $3 billion an hour, around the clock, with 73% of that volume occurring outside U.S. banking hours.

This report examines stablecoins’ practical benefits, growing scale, and adoption by banks and businesses, alongside the potential economic gains from wider use. It closes by exploring how the same capabilities could support a new kind of commerce: AI agents paying for services and transacting with one another.