Stablecoin transaction volumes exceeded $34tn last year, spanning remittances, enterprise flows and on-chain commerce. On the regulatory side, the Financial Stability Board – the G20’s coordinator on financial-stability standards – says implementation is advancing: several jurisdictions have finalised stablecoin frameworks and others are drafting payment-specific regimes, though oversight remains “uneven and inconsistent”.
Adoption is rising alongside evolving regulation because stablecoins work: they move across networks, support enterprise flows and settle over infrastructure that already exists. They are becoming part of how money moves; in practical terms, that means settlement in seconds rather than days, lower costs by reducing the need to pre-position funds across accounts and currencies, and round-the-clock availability. On-chain records also provide real-time visibility of fund location, improving reconciliation and auditability.
While institutional usage remains modest, momentum is building. Just 13% of financial institutions and corporates currently use stablecoins, but 54% of non-users expect to adopt them within the next 12 months. That trajectory shifts focus to delivery: choosing tokens and chains with the right security, speed and cost profile, and ensuring reliable conversion into domestic currency through regulated off-ramps.
Stablecoins run on infrastructure developed outside traditional finance. Transaction finality, wallet models and smart-contract logic differ from conventional systems, so product and compliance teams need to rethink programme design and operational controls.
Interoperability remains a live issue: USDC, USDT, PYUSD and others each carry issuer-specific standards, liquidity constraints and chain dependencies. Programmes often rely on token-specific workarounds, which complicate reconciliation and increase operational overhead.
When flows route through exchanges, visibility can drop. Institutions need to track where funds sit and how they move in real time to meet audit and reporting standards. Most flows still settle back into fiat, so stablecoin usage depends on access to regulated off-ramps and sufficient liquidity in domestic currency.
Until those pieces are in place at scale, everyday spending defaults to the protections and fiat settlement of card rails.
Cards still set the benchmark for everyday payments because the protections are embedded in the rules: clear dispute rights and chargebacks, settlement in fiat without extra steps, and acceptance that works almost everywhere. That combination is why consumers trust cards at the point of sale and why merchants treat them as predictable cashflow. Public chains, by design, prioritise finality; once a transfer is executed, it is final.
There is movement to narrow that gap. Circle, the issuer of USDC, has proposed a smart-contract ‘refund protocol’ for non-custodial, on-chain dispute resolution and has discussed reversible transactions on its Arc infrastructure, but these ideas are early and not yet standard across markets.
For institutions, that distinction matters. Consumer payments depend on built-in protections, fiat clearing, and infrastructure that’s already integrated across banks and merchants. Those aren’t features to replicate; they’re foundations to extend.
Which points to the obvious move: add a rail, don’t create a second stack.
The large networks are wiring stablecoin payments into the frameworks banks and processors use today – certification, settlement and reporting – so programmes can add a new rail without multiplying partners.
Mastercard has announced end-to-end stablecoin transaction capabilities, from wallets to checkouts, and is bringing multiple dollar stablecoins onto its network. Recent updates include work with processors and issuers, plus regional expansion to let merchants and acquirers settle using USDC where appropriate. These moves aim at the practical problems: multi-token support and acceptance at scale.
Visa is expanding stablecoin settlement too: adding more supported stablecoins and chains, and piloting Visa Direct flows that use stablecoins for faster cross-border funding instead of pre-deposited cash. The company also sets out how stablecoin-linked cards let customers spend stablecoin balances at any Visa merchant, with the conversion handled behind the scenes. In other words, direct crypto/stablecoin spending via cards, but under familiar rules.
The result for banks and fintechs is straightforward: the bulk of payments still run over card rails, with stablecoins added where they improve time-to-funds and working-capital costs. You keep existing dispute policies, monitoring, and finance dashboards and you avoid the pain of stitching in new, one-off partners just to support stablecoins.
Policy is still moving, and blockchain-based questions remain: which chains to support, how on-chain records should feed compliance and reporting, and what standards supervisors will ultimately require. In parallel, many central banks are testing CBDCs while private stablecoins scale.
The BIS’s latest global survey reports 91% of 93 central banks are exploring retail and/or wholesale CBDCs; the ECB is in a preparation phase and has just selected providers for key digital-euro component; the Bank of England has launched a Digital Pound Lab; Hong Kong’s HKMA has moved to Phase 2 of its e-HKD pilot; and Singapore’s MAS has launched BLOOM to enable settlement in tokenised bank liabilities and well-regulated stablecoins.
It leaves a clear strategic choice for banks. One route is to use third-party stablecoin issuers’ reserves, such as USDC by Circle; USDT by Tether; PYUSD issued for PayPal by Paxos Trust Company. The other route is to tokenise deposits and keep the liability on balance sheet. Either path can deliver the same customer experience; they simply carry different capital, risk and operational implications.
The practical move is to build for flexibility. Enable stablecoin acceptance and settlement through partners and the card networks so dispute processes, reporting and fiat settlement sit on one control plane.
Treat stablecoins as an added rail behind your existing issuer stack: the same authorisation logic, dispute/chargeback workflows, sanctions and reporting, extended to on-chain flows. Work with network and issuer-processing partners to handle multi-token acceptance and settlement and keep off-ramps bank-grade.
Build this way and you get faster settlement and lower pre-funding, without a parallel stack or new reconciliation burden.
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