TLDR;

1. The stablecoin strategy of cross-border payment companies is divided into three categories: stablecoin collection (accepting stablecoin settlement), stablecoin issuance (applying for a license to self-generate stablecoin), and isolating regulatory risks through independent offshore brands. At present, only a few companies have truly launched products

2. Stablecoins have weak fee or speed advantages in cross-border payments. With the popularity of local payment channels, traditional transfer costs have been greatly reduced. Currently, fees are mainly concentrated in the domestic settlement process, which is precisely what stablecoins cannot bypass. Exchange rate conversion is also inevitable, and stablecoins do not really solve these two core pain points.

3. Emerging digital banks (Neobanks) are the highest value link in the stablecoin cross-border payment value chain. The real advantage of stable currency payment lies in the internal circulation of the ecosystem. Zero friction can only be achieved when both ends of the payment and receipt are settled in stable currency. Regions with weak banking infrastructure, such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, are the strongest implementation scenarios. Tether’s investment in SQRIL is a clear signal.

The myth of stable currency cross-border payments

The stablecoin strategy of Asian cross-border financial technology companies mainly includes three directions:

• Stablecoin usage: Accept stablecoin settlement payments

• Stablecoin issuance: Apply for a license to issue stablecoins

• Independent brand: Carry out crypto/stable currency business through independent branded offshore entities to isolate regulatory risks from domestic licenses

An independent offshore entity is a necessary condition

All companies with substantial stablecoin business operate through independent offshore entities: KUN (owned by Yeepay), DFX Labs (owned by LianLian), RD InnoTech (owned by RD Technologies).

Stablecoin payment is the only product currently launched, but few companies disclose the rates and payment speed

Most companies started with stablecoin collection rather than stablecoin issuance, including LianLian, KUN, and OristaPay. Currently only RD InnoTech is the closest to actually issuing a stablecoin (HKDR).

However, we have yet to see any company publicly disclose the rates and payment speeds of stablecoin payment services like other mature payment companies. The only one that discloses its rates is BVNK. Its rate structure is: transfer fee 0 yuan + standard exchange fee + service fee for entering and exiting external wallets + blockchain handling fee.

The issuance of Hong Kong licenses in March 2026 will be a turning point for the industry

HKMA will issue the first batch of stablecoin issuance licenses in March 2026, and the number of approved companies will be very small. Companies currently confirmed to have applied for licenses include RD InnoTech, JD and Anchorpoint Financial. RD InnoTech has a higher probability of approval because it has entered the HKMA stablecoin issuer sandbox.

The license results will determine which companies can advance from stablecoin use to stablecoin issuance, and will also determine whether Hong Kong can become a true stablecoin center or continue to be restricted by Beijing's influence.

Reasons for the slow implementation of stablecoins in cross-border payment companies

Stablecoins have little rate or speed advantage in cross-border payments

For a cross-border business owner, completing cross-border payment from overseas to mainland China mainly involves three links: Transfer, exchange and domestic settlement.

• Transfer: Transfer funds from overseas buyers to the payment platform through SWIFT, local bank payment channels or internal wallets.

• Exchange: Convert foreign currencies (such as USD, EUR) into RMB at a specific exchange rate.

• Domestic settlement: Withdraw the converted RMB to a bank account in mainland China or Alipay.

New channels such as local payment channels have reduced traditional transfer fees to nearly 0% and speeds close to real-time

Traditionally, SWIFT transfers are expensive and time-consuming, and are the main source of cross-border payment costs. Among the companies analyzed in this article, transfer fees accounted for 56% of total expenses. For example, using SWIFT through Airwallex costs around $25.

However, many cross-border fintech companies already have local payment channels, which means:

• Fintech companies receive payment through the local payment network where the payee is located (such as ACH in the United States, SEPA in Europe, UPI in India), complete the fund transfer within their own global network, and then complete the payment through the local payment network where the payee is located, completely bypassing SWIFT.

The new channel significantly reduces cross-border transfer fees. Currently domestic settlement accounts for 58% of the total fees.

However, domestic settlement is not a link that stablecoins can bypass, because users always need to hold RMB cash in bank accounts.

Stablecoins not only cannot bypass domestic settlement, but exchange is also an indispensable part of cross-border payments. Stablecoins have little room to improve user experience. Transfers are close to real-time and fees are approaching zero. Exchange is the main source of fees, and stablecoin companies also need to perform exchanges for users.

Taken together, if we compare cross-border transfers fairly (excluding domestic settlement and exchange), stablecoins have no room for improvement.

Investment Implications: Narrative of Emerging Digital Banks

Core argument: Neobank is the key to stablecoin cross-border payments

The value chain of stablecoin cross-border payment is divided into three layers:

1. Issuance layer (Tether, Circle, HKMA licensees): Create stablecoins

2. Infrastructure layer (Bridge/Stripe, BVNK, Circle CPN): circulation and exchange of stable coins

3. Distribution/Terminal Layer (Emerging Digital Bank): Convert Stablecoins into Local Spending Power

Emerging digital banks are the core bottleneck in the value chain and also the highest value opportunities.

Emerging digital banks are the "last mile"

Stablecoin cross-border payments only have real advantages in an ecosystem where the stablecoin itself is the final destination (rather than a fiat bridge).

If merchants receive payments in stablecoins, pay suppliers in stablecoins, and employees receive salaries in stablecoins and spend money through emerging digital banks native to stablecoins, the entire transaction will be completed entirely on the chain without touching traditional channels.

Once either party needs to convert back to fiat currency, the cost of withdrawing money will be reintroduced with settlement fees comparable to the fintech's native channels. This is exactly why stablecoin payments are most persuasive in communities with weak banking infrastructure, active remittance channels, or crypto-native communities.

In addition, Neobank users can also obtain higher than market average returns while holding stablecoins, which provides additional driving force for users to choose stablecoins for cross-border payments, not only as payment tools, but also as interest-earning assets.

Must be deployed in areas with weak financial infrastructure

The most convincing scenarios for stablecoins are those where stablecoins are more convenient than traditional banks:

• Southeast Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia): more than 44% of the unbanked population, high penetration rate

• Middle East/Africa: huge remittance channels, weak local payment channels, and a positive and open regulatory attitude (the UAE has established 4 sets of regulatory frameworks)

Tether plays the role of a parallel financial system in Vietnam. Tether’s investment in SQRIL shows that its growth strategy is to bet on the emerging digital banking layer – allowing people to spend USDT in a local way in less developed countries – which is the strongest market signal.

Why Series A/Series B is the best investment window

Stablecoin emerging digital banks are infrastructure-heavy businesses that require local licenses, local bank partners, KYC/AML compliance infrastructure, merchant networks and accumulation of consumer trust.

• Premature seed round/Pre-A round: The business model is unproven, regulatory risks are high, and unit economic benefits are unclear.

• Series A/B is the best window: demand has been verified, compliance has been confirmed, unit economic benefits have been verified, and investment risks have been significantly reduced.

• Later stage/IPO stage may be too late: Valuations fully reflect the premium of mature business models.

Detailed explanation of the stablecoin strategies of each cross-border payment company

Airwallex

Airwallex adopts a more cautious strategy: complete internal construction first, and then deploy after regulatory and market conditions mature. This reflects the company’s established advantage in traditional payment channels and reduces the urgency for immediate stablecoin adoption.

Stablecoin/blockchain integration: skeptical, no online product yet

CEO Jack Zhang is skeptical of stablecoins

• He believes that Airwallex has been able to achieve "real-time transfers with a fee of less than 0.01%" and said that "you can't get cheaper than free and faster than real-time."

• The company's official blog also expressed this position, pointing out that existing local payment channels are efficient enough.

Internal Stablecoin Team

Airwallex will announce 22 stablecoin engineer positions in July 2025 to form a token settlement platform team. Recruitment information disclosed that the company is building infrastructure to enable customers and internal systems to buy, hold, send and settle tokens globally, support near-instant global payments, and achieve on-chain liquidity management and seamless conversion between legal currencies and stable currencies.

Planned application scenarios include: cross-border settlement in emerging markets, on-chain liquidity management, and programmable payments with fiat-to-stable currency exchange services.

Current situation

• Currentlythere are no stablecoin products available online. In the end-2025 mission update, there was no mention of stablecoins at all.

• No public partnerships with Circle, Tether or other stablecoin issuers

• The strategic focus in 2026 is geographical expansion, AI-driven developer tools and customer experience improvement, stablecoins are not included

• Company blog (January 2026) stated: It is still inconclusive whether the value of stablecoins is established

XTransfer

Stablecoin/blockchain integration: positive attitude, but no online product yet

Overseas stable currency collection service

XTransfer announced in August 2025 that it would launch an overseas stablecoin collection service within the year, which would initially be open to some customers. However, as of February 2026, there has been no public confirmation of the official launch of the service.

Speculation: dual wallet model

The core of XTransfer's stablecoin strategy is the dual-currency wallet model, which allows companies to hold fiat currencies and stablecoins at the same time.

WorldFirst (Wanlihui - Ant Group)

Stablecoin/blockchain integration: WorldFirst product level has not yet been covered, but Ant International is building blockchain infrastructure

• WorldFirst’s own products currently do not offer stablecoins or crypto services. Its official services do not include blockchain, stablecoin or digital currency related content, and all WorldFirst products run on traditional banking channels.

• However, parent company Ant International is building important blockchain infrastructure, which is expected to gradually extend to WorldFirst:

Whale Platform Tokenized Deposit Service (TDS)

In 2024, more than one-third of Ant International's total fund processing volume of more than US$1 trillion will be processed through the Whale platform using blockchain technology. This is not a stablecoin, but a Tokenized Deposit Service (TDS).

Tokenized deposits are issued by licensed banks, not stablecoin companies. In the case of HSBC, tokenized deposits allow HSBC customers to create digital records of their traditional fiat currency deposits. HSBC holds fiat deposits, and each digital record on DLT is a transferable token, allowing customers to transfer funds without waiting for batch processing.

In May 2025, Ant Group and HSBC jointly launched Hong Kong's first blockchain settlement solution tokenized deposit service, supporting real-time payment in Hong Kong dollars and US dollars through corporate wallets.

• Other tokenized deposit partners include: DBS, Standard Chartered, OCBC, BNP Paribas, JPMorgan Kinexys Digital Payments and Deutsche Bank

• UBS Digital Cash (November 2025): UBS Singapore signs MoU with Ant International to explore multi-currency tokenized deposit capabilities and integration into Whale platform

• Standard Chartered Bank (December 2025): Launched Hong Kong dollar, offshore RMB (CNH), Singapore dollar and US dollar tokenized deposit solutions on the Whale platform, and completed an inter-bank token transfer of HK$38 million (from HSBC to Standard Chartered)

• Ant International has partnered with ten international banks to support tokenized deposits on the Whale platform

• The application of tokenized deposits in transaction banks participating in the Monetary Authority of Singapore's MAS Project Guardian (ISDA and Ant jointly released an industry report on tokenized bank liabilities for foreign exchange settlement)

Yeepay (Yeepay)

Stablecoin/blockchain integration: Yeepay official products are not directly integrated

• Yeepay’s official products do not integrate stablecoins. However, the co-founders of Yeepay are actively developing stablecoin payment business through the independent brand KUN.

KUN Product Matrix

Note: KUN means that it only serves customers "outside mainland China and the United States".

KUN Partners and Integration

• Circle Payments Network (CPN): Now online. As confirmed by Circle, KUN is a CPN partner and supports 7x24 USDC/EURC stablecoin settlement. The CPN mainnet will be officially launched in mid-2025, with the first batch of 29 financial institutions connected.

• WSPN: WUSD (USD-pegged stablecoin) has been integrated into the KUN Space platform for cross-border corporate transactions (March 2024).

• Marco Digital (01942.HK): The first USDT-based insurance commission payment in Asia was reportedly completed through KUN (August 2025).

LianLian Pay (Lianlian payment/Lianlian numbers)

Stablecoin/Blockchain: Already implemented, integrating stablecoins through partners

• Lianlian Payment is one of the most active stablecoin strategies among Chinese cross-border payment companies.

Circle/USDC MOU: still in the exploratory stage, no online products yet

Signed an MOU with Circle to evaluate the use of USDC for large international payment flows. Explore the application of Circle’s Layer-1 blockchain Arc in future payment scenarios.

BVNK Cooperation: Online Stablecoin Payment Integration (June 2025)

Fund flow: Merchant deposits stable currency → BVNK is automatically converted into USD → Transfer is completed through the global network.

RD Technologies: HKDR Stable Coin

Establishing cooperation with RD Technologies, RD plans to issue HKDR (Hong Kong dollar pegged stable currency) on Ethereum. Lianlian uses RD Technologies' RD ezLink enterprise identity verification and RD Wallet payment tools, and also cooperates with HashKey Exchange and Cobo.

HKDR is still a sandbox/beta product. This cooperation cannot be fully implemented until RD Technologies obtains an official stablecoin issuer license from the HKMA (expected in March 2026).

DFX Labs: virtual asset trading platform (wholly owned by Lianlian's Hong Kong listed subsidiary)

Main business includes:

• Cryptocurrency Trading: Buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

• Wallet service: virtual asset custody/storage

• Liquidity Services

• DFX Labs has obtained the VATP license (Type 1-securities trading + Type 7-automated trading) issued by the Hong Kong SFC. Conditions: It must complete SFC on-site inspection and rectification and pass independent penetration testing before it can be fully operational

RD Technologies

Founded by the former HKMA President, core competitive advantages:

• Regulatory background: Former HKMA president serves as chairman, one of the first sandbox participants

• Dual license: SVF (fiat currency payment) + stable currency sandbox

Core business: payment (OristaPay) + stable currency issuance (RD InnoTech)

• Relying on the SVF license (SVF0016) issued by HKMA in December 2022

• Multi-currency electronic wallet, supports 8 currencies, used for corporate payment and exchange rate management

• Transfer methods: FPS (Fast Payment System), CHATS, Telegraphic Transfer (TT)

Two independent business lines:

1. OristaPay (Yuanwen Payment): B2B cross-border payment and wallet service based on legal currency, positioned as a "new generation payment infrastructure provider"

2. RD InnoTech Limited: focusing on stable currency issuance (HKDR) and blockchain/Web3 business

OristaPay (RD Wallet)

OristaPay has launched Global Collection products, supporting fiat currency and stable currency cross-border payments, 24/7 liquidity, and is particularly deep in the African and Latin American markets.

• Supports payment in more than 100 currencies, covering 200+ countries and regions

• Accepts mainstream stablecoins, has fast settlement capabilities, and performs AML and KYT compliance screening in real time

• Global Collection’s specific handling fees are not publicly disclosed

RD InnoTech Stable Coin Issuance — HKDR

RD InnoTech was selected as the first batch of HKMA Stablecoin Issuer Sandbox, along with Standard Chartered/Animoca/HKT (HKDG) and JD CoinLink (JD-HKD).

Stablecoin regulatory timeline:

• December 2022: HKMA issues SVF license (SVF0016)

• July 2024: Selected into HKMA Stablecoin Issuer Sandbox (First Batch)

• August 2025: Hong Kong's Stable Coin Ordinance officially comes into effect

• September 2025: Brand reorganization, OristaPay and RD InnoTech will be separated into independent companies

• January 2026: OristaPay Global Collection is officially launched and supports stablecoins

Important partnerships

ZA Global co-led RD Technologies' US$40 million Series A2 financing. Sign MOU with ZA Bank:

• Reserve custody: ZA Bank provides custody services for HKDR reserve assets

• Distribution: ZA Bank explores becoming HKDR's sales/distribution partner

Other partners: Allinpay International, Ripple, Circle Payment Network (CPN)

Appendix:

Comparative analysis of cross-border payment company handling fees and payment speed

Comparison of rates: $100 remitted from overseas to China (lowest rate)

Scenario: Transfer $100 USD from overseas to a domestic bank account. Each step uses the lowest available rate of each company.

Remarks:

• XTransfer 0.1% settlement rate must reach a certain transaction volume; the standard rate is up to 0.4%

• WorldFirst $0 total fee is based on personal Alipay withdrawal; B2B bank withdrawal is 0.3% (B2C) or 0.4% (B2B)

• Yeepay's local payment method fee range is 0.6%–1.6%, and the CNY settlement fee is not publicly disclosed

• LianLian 0.3% settlement rate is suitable for users with high trading volume; standard rates can reach up to 0.7%

• RD Technologies has not disclosed handling fees and payment time information

Comparison of rates: $100 remitted from overseas to China (highest rate)

Remarks:

• Airwallex SWIFT fee is a fixed $25 per transaction; 25% of the transfer amount of $100, which is relatively reasonable for large transfers

• Yeepay credit card acquiring: base rate 3.8% + $0.30 + cross-border surcharge 1% + currency conversion fee 3%, total $100 transfer $8.10

• LianLian Wish Payout rate cap is 0.75%; settlement rate is up to 0.7%

• RD Technologies' TT wire transfer including correspondent bank fees is HKD 400 (approximately $51.28); domestic CNY settlement services are not provided

Speed comparison: remittance from overseas to China (fastest)

Speed comparison: remittance from overseas to China (slowest)

Remarks:

• XTransfer X2X requires both buyers and sellers to be XTransfer platform users

• WorldFirst 1-minute Alipay payment is for personal Alipay accounts, non-corporate bank accounts

• Yeepay's fastest transfer is subject to the CNY settlement time from T+1 to T+2

• RD Technologie s does not provide CNY settlement services in China, and the time limit is only applicable to Hong Kong

• The bottleneck of the slowest path for all companies is SWIFT, which will add a waiting time of 1-7 days before exchange/settlement