Are We Overselling Stablecoin Utility for Everyday Purchases?

I've been thinking a lot about the push for stablecoins as a primary method for fintechs and merchants to handle payments. On paper, it sounds fantastic – faster settlement, lower fees, fewer chargebacks. Who wouldn't want that? But then I look at the actual use cases, and I can't shake the feeling we're overstating the immediate, widespread benefit for the average consumer or even many smaller businesses.

Take the on/off-ramp issue alone. For a merchant to accept a stablecoin like USDC or USDT, they still need a robust system to convert it to fiat for payroll, suppliers, or just general operating costs. That often involves a traditional banking partner, and suddenly you're back to dealing with some of the same friction points stablecoins are meant to bypass. And for the consumer, if they're not already steeped in crypto, the additional steps to acquire and spend stablecoins through a non-custodial wallet might just be too much friction for, say, buying a coffee. We're seeing things like $MGC at 275.835 or even the volatility in something like $SHIB (currently down to 0.00000489) that remind us crypto assets are still, for many, speculative investments first, not everyday cash. Are we truly seeing a significant advantage over existing, increasingly efficient fiat rails for the typical retail transaction, or are we mostly solving a problem for a niche of early adopters and specific cross-border scenarios? Change my mind.