Stablecoins emerging as a core payments infrastructure
Stablecoins have evolved from a niche crypto phenomenon into a credible component of the global payments infrastructure. As adoption accelerates, experts from PaymentGenes and Utila argue that stablecoins should now be viewed as one of the most consequential strategic payments decisions facing banks, payment service providers and fintechs.
For years, the the debate around stablecoins in payments revolved around a single question: do they actually work? Can digital assets settle real transactions, serve real customers, and operate within real regulatory frameworks?
That question today has been answered. B2B stablecoin payment volume reached $226 billion in 2024, representing 733% year-over-year growth according to a McKinsey-Artemis study. MiCA has introduced a workable regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers and operators in Europe. The GENIUS Act in the United States is moving institutional treasury teams from cautious observation to active deployment.
The benefits are clear. Cross-border payments through correspondent banking rails cost between 1% and 3% and settle in days. Stablecoin rails compress that to minutes – or seconds – at a fraction of the cost. But capturing that advantage requires more than connecting to a blockchain. It requires owning the operational layer that sits beneath the product.
Driven by these developments, major financial institutions, payment networks, and corporate treasuries are no longer asking whether stablecoins belong in their infrastructure but are asking how to operationalise them.
From experimentation to operationalisation
That shift from experimentation to operationalisation is the real inflexion point in the sector. And it is where most of the complexity now lives. In our work with clients across the payments and fintech landscape, we see four areas that put pressure on operationalisation:
1) Margin pressure is landing on the CFO’s desk
The economics of stablecoin settlement are not a future proposition. For PSPs and fintechs operating cross-border corridors, the difference between 1% and 3% in correspondent banking fees and the marginal cost of on-chain settlement is already material.
In high-volume corridors – particularly across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, where banking infrastructure is expensive and unreliable – the unit economics argument is not theoretical. It is showing up in pricing conversations and competitive dynamics today.
2) Build versus buy versus partner is harder than it looks
Most mid-sized fintechs and PSPs underestimate what it takes to build stablecoin infrastructure themselves. The visible parts – choosing a blockchain, integrating a wallet API, connecting a ramp provider – are manageable.
The invisible parts are not. MPC key management, multi-chain transaction signing, governance policy enforcement, gas abstraction, and the security architecture required to operate at institutional scale represent deep platform engineering problems that require specialised expertise to get right.
3) Infrastructure capability is becoming a strategic asset
From a mergers & acquisitions and partnership perspective, we are increasingly seeing digital asset infrastructure capability show up in valuation conversations.
Companies that have solved the custody, governance, and compliance layer – and can demonstrate that their operations are audit-ready, scalable, and jurisdictionally portable – are better positioned for strategic partnerships, licensing arrangements, and acquisition interest than those operating on top of a bundled provider they do not fully control.
4) The regulatory window is closing
MiCA is live. The GENIUS Act is advancing. The ‘wait and see’ position on stablecoins is no longer a neutral stance – it is a decision to let better-prepared competitors move first. The organizations that establish their operational infrastructure now, within an increasingly clear regulatory framework, will have a meaningful head start when volume and margin pressure force the rest of the market to act.
Getting the infrastructure layer right
The organizations that will lead in payments over the next three to five years are not necessarily the ones with the most innovative products – they are the ones that get the infrastructure layer right at the right moment. That window is open now, and it will not stay open indefinitely.
From a payments strategy perspective, there are several dimensions that leaders should consider stress-testing:
Competitive positioning
Stablecoins are rapidly shifting from a differentiator to a table-stakes capability in certain corridors and verticals. PSPs and fintechs operating in cross-border B2B payments, payroll, or treasury services who do not have a credible stablecoin strategy in their 2026–2027 roadmap are falling behind. You should already be thinking at what pace and with what infrastructure underneath it to start engaging.
Operational readiness
The gap between launching a stablecoin product and running one at scale is larger than most organizations anticipate. As the conversation with Utila makes clear, the security and governance decisions made at the start of the journey compound – for better or worse – with every dollar of volume that follows. Getting the foundational architecture right before scaling is significantly cheaper than rebuilding it under pressure.
Partnerships and ecosystem positioning
The stablecoin stack is not a single vendor decision. It involves custody, compliance, liquidity, on/off-ramps, and increasingly yield and treasury. How you structure those relationships – what you own, who you partner with, and on what terms – will directly affect your margins, your flexibility, and your ability to serve clients across jurisdictions. This is a strategic design question, not a procurement one.
M&A and transactions
Infrastructure capability is appearing in due diligence with increasing regularity. Companies that have built a clean, modular, auditable digital asset stack are easier to integrate, easier to license, and more attractive to acquirers and strategic partners. If a transaction – buy side or sell side – is part of your horizon, this is worth getting right now rather than cleaning up later.
The decision cannot wait
Stablecoins have crossed the threshold. They are no longer a crypto story, a niche use case, or a regulatory question mark. They are emerging core payments infrastructure – and the operational challenge has shifted accordingly.
The organizations that will capture the most value from this shift are not necessarily the first to launch a stablecoin product. They are the ones that build – or acquire – the operational foundation that makes scale possible: controlled key management, enforceable governance, embedded compliance, and the flexibility to add corridors, chains, and counterparty relationships without re-platforming.
