1. Introduction: Stablecoins are moving towards mainstream payment

Stablecoins are moving from cryptocurrency native application scenarios to real-world payment workflows. Stablecoins, originally used for on-chain decentralized finance (DeFi), are now increasingly embedded in areas such as commercial payments, bank card consumption, merchant collections, remittances, fund management, and U.S. dollar transactions in emerging markets. The convergence of traditional infrastructure and stablecoin payment channels is leading to a tectonic shift in payment infrastructure, allowing it to operate around the clock, near instantaneously, and cost-effectively for all economic participants. Currently, the circulating supply of stablecoins in the market is US$315 billion, and the total transaction volume is expected to reach US$11.32 trillion in 2025. Stablecoin trading volume has reached $7.8 trillion so far this year and is on track to exceed 2025 levels. In order to understand why stablecoins continue to grow in popularity, with transaction volume now surpassing Mastercard and approaching Visa, we must understand the current payments landscape.

Today’s payment system remains fragmented and primarily optimized for domestic transactions. However, cross-border payments are costly and complex, resulting in slow and expensive transfers for consumers and trapped funds for businesses at higher costs. Stablecoins introduce a global, software-native settlement layer that enables value to flow on open blockchain networks. The advantage of stablecoins is not just speed, but the combination of speed, programmability and interoperability. This article will explore the fastest-growing B2B and B2C payment areas, analyze why fintech is an ideal choice for stablecoin development, and why emerging markets provide rich opportunities for fintech companies integrating stablecoins.

The stablecoin market map can be broken down into multiple stacks. Note that these stacks are not mutually exclusive, and more and more companies have multiple stacks.

1. The infrastructure stack consists of payment orchestration, deposit and withdrawal channels, wallets and custody platforms. Orchestration and deposit and withdrawal channel providers help facilitate conversions between fiat and stablecoins, moving them from the source chain to the target chain. Wallet and custody providers ensure that stablecoins are kept by a custodian or owner. Card issuers like Reap are principal members of Visa and can provide BIN guarantees to companies looking to issue their own branded corporate cards.

2. Issuers include stablecoin issuers such as Circle, Paxos, Agora and other non-US dollar stablecoin issuers. The passage of the GENIUS Act, MiCA and the Hong Kong Stablecoin Ordinance impose regulatory taxes on non-compliant issuers while allowing compliant issuers to issue stablecoins to retail and enterprises. Currently, the largest stablecoin issuer is Tether, with more than $186 billion in USDT issuance. In terms of popularity, USDT is the dominant stablecoin in the world, especially in Latin America and Africa.

3. The settlement stack consists of the blockchain used to facilitate and process transactions. Notably, Tron is widely used in Latin America and Africa, handling the majority of USDT transactions.

4. The liquidity structure consists of market makers, financial institutions and exchanges. These participants provide liquidity for the buying and selling of fiat currencies and stablecoins, allowing for low-slippage price execution.

5. The control stack consists of KYC/AML tools, which are becoming increasingly important as fraud and money laundering operations exploit cryptocurrencies as a form of disguise and seamless transfer of funds.

6. The application layer consists of financial technology companies, market platforms, and platforms that interact directly with end users to enable cross-border capital flows, salary payments, remittances, etc.

2. B2B stablecoin payment: the largest commercial application case

In 2025, the transaction volume of the B2B payment market will reach US$226 billion, accounting for 58% of the real-world payment market share, with an average annual growth rate of 733%. Despite rapid growth, stablecoins still account for only about 0.01% of the $1.6 trillion global B2B payments market, highlighting that the field is still in its early stages of development. Cross-border payments involve different banking systems, foreign exchange costs, local regulations and restrictions, and compliance requirements. By replacing traditional payment channels with stablecoins, businesses can significantly reduce processing fees by 70% to 80%, shorten settlement times, and eliminate the need for idle working capital. In emerging markets where inflation and currency volatility are high, stablecoin payments have emerged as an alternative payment method and money management solution.

Reap is a key player in the cryptocurrency card and B2B payments space. The company has dual Visa master memberships in Hong Kong and Mexico, allowing it to own its own card issuance infrastructure without relying on third-party BIN sponsors. Reap’s customers can issue their own corporate cards and spend using the stablecoin, turning the stablecoin into a consumable method of transaction. In 2025, the company processed $5.2 billion in transaction volume through its corporate cards and Reap Direct products.

3. B2C stable currency payment

The World Bank estimates that the number of freelancers worldwide ranges from 150 million to 300 million, 40% of which are in emerging economies. The market size will reach US$557 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to US$1.8 trillion by 2032. More and more companies are also hiring freelancers to keep their workforce flexible. The explosive growth of the gig economy has created an increasing need for efficient, scalable payment solutions that support transactions of all sizes and cover multiple currencies around the world. Stablecoins fit this need perfectly, allowing businesses to make payments in near real-time at very low cost, without the need to pre-fund bank accounts around the world. One notable case is Scale AI, which leverages Bridge’s stablecoin orchestration platform to pay thousands of international freelancers weekly who focus on image training verification. Under this model, Scale AI pays Bridge a one-time fiat payment, and Bridge then mints the Circle stablecoin and distributes it directly to the freelancer’s digital wallet. Recipients can then seamlessly exchange these digital assets into local fiat currencies via regional exchanges.

4. Why all financial technology companies will support stablecoins

The first large fintech funding cycle was characterized by the divestment of traditional financial services from banks. Funds are pouring into new types of banks, digital wallets, lending platforms, brokerage firms, payment apps and consumer finance products that improve access to financial services and the user experience. These companies are winning over the market by making financial products more accessible through mobile-first interfaces.

Today, the integration of financial technology and stablecoins has become an inevitable trend, and we are witnessing this trend in real time with the improvement of regulatory transparency and the popularity of stablecoins. KPMG data shows that although financing in the traditional financial technology field has declined in the past three years, the industry has ushered in a turning point in 2025, with total transaction volume increasing from US$95.5 billion in 2024 to US$116 billion, especially in the digital asset field. Clearly, the current financing landscape is shifting toward fintech companies that can leverage traditional financial infrastructure and blockchain networks more efficiently.

The value proposition of integrating stablecoins into the fintech space has never been more obvious. Some 1.4 billion people live in countries with inflation exceeding 10%, creating demand for USD-denominated stablecoin accounts. Meanwhile, the $944 billion annual global remittance market is increasingly leveraging stablecoin payment channels to avoid the World Bank’s reported average 6.4% cost of sending $200 through traditional channels. Large enterprises are already starting to put these advantages into practice. For example, Starlink collects payments in Nigerian Naira and converts them into U.S. dollars on an hourly basis for remittance, minimizing currency risk. As the regulatory environment clears, stablecoin infrastructure matures, and adoption accelerates, fintech companies that are slow to integrate stablecoins will risk being overtaken by competitors that offer services such as 24/7 settlement, programmable payments, and embedded benefits.

5. Emerging market opportunities

Emerging markets are likely to become one of the most important development environments for stablecoin financial technology, because the pain points in these regions are more obvious. In Africa, low bank penetration and credit card ownership have led to the rapid development of mobile payments and digital wallets, which are more convenient and easier to use than traditional banking services.

Although the U.S. dollar is the most dominant trading currency among emerging economies, ease of access to U.S. dollars remains a constraint. The Atlantic Council reports that 54% of exports are denominated in U.S. dollars and 88% of foreign exchange transactions are quoted in U.S. dollars—making access to U.S. dollars critical to businesses around the world, yet emerging markets struggle to access U.S. dollars amid capital controls. This friction is particularly acute in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. A lack of liquidity among African currencies makes intracontinental payments costly and time-consuming, often forcing transactions to go through U.S. bank intermediaries, adding to settlement delays and fees—a problem exacerbated by a 40% drop in active correspondent banking relationships since 2011. Access to U.S. dollars is only half the problem: Developed market companies face significant barriers to repatriating funds when expanding overseas, because those in emerging markets that charge local currencies have their balance sheets exposed to volatile currencies and must rely on intermediaries that charge high fees and endure days of delays and high foreign exchange costs to repatriate funds, creating cash flow inefficiencies and currency risks.

In these markets, stablecoins can serve both retail consumers and businesses. Nigeria, for example, is one of the most developed economies in Africa and the largest market for stablecoin trading on the continent. Nigeria’s Central Bank aims to achieve 95% financial inclusion by 2028, creating a conducive regulatory environment for fintech expansion in the country. Mobile-first fintech platforms like PalmPay are well-positioned to take advantage of the compounding effects of integrated stablecoins due to their large user and merchant networks. PalmPay provides B2B and B2C payment services, including zero-fee transfers, bill payments, savings accounts, instant credit services, and payment processing for consumers and merchants. Currently, the PalmPay platform has more than 1.1 million merchants and 35 million users across the African market, with an annual transaction volume of billions of dollars. Paga also provides another signal. Its recent partnership with Crossmint to bring multi-chain stablecoin infrastructure to Africa shows that African fintech platforms are exploring integrating programmable wallets and stablecoin payment channels into existing payment networks. As Latin America's largest economy, Brazil accounts for nearly 60% of the region's fintech market share, and more than 80% of online payments are completed through digital wallets. Rather than requiring users to download a standalone crypto wallet, stablecoin functionality could be integrated into the backend of a fintech interface that most people are already familiar with, thereby leveraging these companies’ moats and network effects.

6. Conclusion

Looking ahead, competition in the fintech space will move towards providing features such as stablecoin-native banking services, programmable treasury management, cross-border e-commerce, digital wallets and alternative credit products on a unified platform. Emerging markets still contain huge untapped potential, and companies that have achieved scale and earned the trust of consumers in these underserved markets are particularly well positioned to solidify their competitive advantage.