A New Chapter in Stablecoin Payments: Exploring Technology Stack and Business Model Innovations

The global financial system is undergoing profound changes. Traditional payment networks are facing comprehensive challenges from stablecoins due to outdated infrastructure, lengthy settlement periods, and high costs. Stablecoins are rapidly innovating cross-border value flow models, corporate transaction paradigms, and the ways individuals access financial services.

In recent years, stablecoins have continued to develop and have become an important underlying infrastructure for global payments. Large fintech companies, payment processors, and sovereign entities are gradually integrating stablecoins into consumer-facing applications and enterprise cash flows. Meanwhile, a series of emerging financial tools, from payment gateways to deposit and withdrawal channels, to programmable yield products, have greatly enhanced the convenience of using stablecoins.

This report deeply analyzes the stablecoin ecosystem from both technical and business perspectives. It studies the key players shaping this field, the core infrastructure supporting stablecoin transactions, and the dynamic demands driving its applications. Additionally, it discusses how stablecoins give rise to new financial application scenarios and the challenges they face in being widely integrated into the global economic process.

1. Why choose stablecoin payment?

To explore the influence of stablecoins, we first need to examine traditional payment solutions. These traditional systems include cash, checks, debit cards, credit cards, international wire transfers ( SWIFT ), Automated Clearing House ( ACH ), and peer-to-peer payments, among others. Although they have become integrated into daily life, many payment channels, such as ACH and SWIFT, have infrastructure that has existed since the 1970s. While they were groundbreaking at the time, most of these global payment infrastructures are now outdated and highly fragmented. Overall, these payment methods are plagued by high costs, high friction, long processing times, the inability to achieve 24/7 settlement, and complex back-end processes. Additionally, they often require payment for unnecessary extra services such as bundled identity verification, lending, compliance, fraud protection, and bank integration.

Stablecoin payments are effectively addressing these pain points. Compared to traditional payment methods, using blockchain for payment settlement greatly simplifies the payment process, reduces intermediaries, and achieves real-time visibility of cash flow, which not only shortens settlement times but also lowers costs.

The main advantages of stablecoin payments can be summarized as follows:

• Real-time settlement: Transactions are completed almost instantly, eliminating delays found in traditional banking systems.
• Safe and Reliable: The immutable ledger of blockchain ensures the security and transparency of transactions, providing protection for users.
• Cost reduction: Removing intermediaries significantly lowers transaction fees, saving users money.
• Global Coverage: Decentralized platforms can reach markets underserved by traditional financial services (, including the unbanked population ), achieving financial inclusion.

2. The Landscape of the Stablecoin Payment Industry

The stablecoin payment industry can be segmented into four technical stack layers:

(# 1. First Layer: Application Layer

The application layer is mainly composed of various payment service providers ) PSP ###, which integrate multiple independent deposit and withdrawal payment institutions into a unified aggregation platform. These platforms provide users with convenient access to stablecoins, tools for developers developing at the application layer, and credit card services for Web3 users.

a. Payment Gateway

The payment gateway is a service that facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers by securely processing payments.

Notable companies innovating in this field include:

• Stripe: A traditional payment provider integrating stablecoins like USDC for global payments.
• MetaMask does not provide direct fiat currency exchange functionality itself; users can perform deposit and withdrawal operations through integration with its third-party services.
• Helio: 450,000 active wallets and 6,000 merchants. With the Solana Pay plugin, millions of Shopify merchants can settle payments with cryptocurrency and instantly convert USDY to other stablecoins, such as USDC, EURC, and PYUSD.
• Web2 payment applications such as Apple Pay, PayPal, Cash App, Nubank, and Revolut also allow users to make payments using stablecoins, further expanding the application scenarios of stablecoins.

The field of payment gateway providers can be clearly divided into two categories ( with certain overlap ).

1( Developer-focused payment gateway; 2) Consumer-focused payment gateway. Most payment gateway providers tend to focus more on one type, thereby shaping their core products, user experience, and target market.

The payment gateway aimed at developers is designed to serve businesses, fintech companies, and enterprises that need to embed stablecoin infrastructure into their workflows. They typically offer Application Programming Interface ) API ), Software Development Kit ( SDK ), and developer tools for integration into existing payment systems, enabling features such as automated payments, stablecoin wallets, virtual accounts, and real-time settlement. Some emerging projects focused on providing such developer tools include:

• BVNK: Provides enterprise-level payment infrastructure for easy integration of stablecoins. BVNK offers API solutions for seamless processes, with a payment platform for cross-border commercial payments, as well as enterprise accounts that allow businesses to hold and trade multiple stablecoins and fiat currencies, and merchant services that provide the necessary tools for businesses to accept customer payments in stablecoins. Processing over $10 billion in annualized transaction volume, with a year-on-year growth rate of 200%, valued at $750 million, clients include emerging regions such as Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
• Iron (in beta): Provides APIs to seamlessly integrate stablecoin transactions into their existing business. It offers businesses global deposit and withdrawal channels, stablecoin payment infrastructure, wallets, and virtual accounts, supporting customized payment workflows( including recurring payments, invoicing, or on-demand payments).
• Juicyway: provides a range of enterprise payment, salary distribution, and bulk payment APIs, supporting currencies including Nigerian Naira (NGN), Canadian Dollar (CAD), US Dollar (USD), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC). Mainly targeting the African market, with no operational data available yet.

Consumer-oriented payment gateways focus on the user, providing an easy-to-use interface that facilitates stablecoin payments, remittances, and financial services. They typically include mobile wallets, multi-currency support, fiat currency deposit and withdrawal channels, and seamless cross-border transactions. Some well-known projects that focus on providing users with this simple payment experience include:

• Decaf: An on-chain banking platform that enables personal consumption, remittances, and stablecoin transactions in over 184 countries; Decaf collaborates with local channels in Latin America, including Western Union( and MoneyGram), to achieve almost zero withdrawal fees, with over 10,000 South American users and high ratings among Solana developers.
• Meso: Deposit and withdrawal solution, directly integrated with merchants, enabling users and businesses to easily convert between fiat currencies and stablecoins with minimal friction. Meso also supports Apple Pay for purchasing USDC, simplifying the process for consumers to acquire stablecoins.
• Venmo: The stablecoin wallet feature of Venmo utilizes stablecoin technology, but its functionality is integrated into its existing consumer payment application, allowing users to easily send, receive, and use digital dollars without directly interacting with the blockchain infrastructure.

b. U Card

Cryptocurrency cards are payment cards that allow users to spend cryptocurrencies or stablecoins at traditional merchants. These cards are typically integrated with traditional credit card networks like Visa or Mastercard, automatically converting cryptocurrency assets into fiat currency at the point of sale to enable seamless transactions.

The project includes:

• Reap: Asian card issuer, clients include over 40 companies such as Infini, Kast, Genosis pay, Redotpay, Ether.fi, etc., selling white-label solutions, mainly relying on transaction volume commission ( like Kast 85%-Reap 15% ) cooperating with Hong Kong banks, can cover most areas outside the US, supports multi-chain deposit; by July 2024, transaction volume reached $30M.
• Raincards: A card issuer in the Americas that supports card issuance for multiple companies such as Avalanche, Offramp, and takenos, with the main feature being the ability to serve users in the US and Latin America. Issued a USDC corporate card to pay for travel expenses, office supplies, and other daily business expenses using on-chain assets ( like USDC).
• Fiat24: European card issuer + web3 bank, business model similar to the above two, supports card issuance for companies such as ethsign, safepal; Swiss license, mainly serves European + Asian users, does not yet support full-chain transactions, only allows Arbitrum deposits. Growth is slow with a total user count of 20,000, monthly revenue $100K-150K.
• Kast: The rapidly growing U card on Solana has currently issued over 10,000 cards, with 5-6k monthly active users, and a transaction volume of $7m and revenue of $200k by December 2024.
• 1Money: stablecoin ecosystem has recently launched a credit card supporting stablecoins and provides a software development kit for easy L1 and L2 integration, currently in beta with no data available.

There are many cryptocurrency card providers, and they mainly differ in terms of service areas and supported currencies, while typically offering low-cost services to end users to enhance their enthusiasm for using cryptocurrency cards.

(# 2. Second Layer: Payment Processor

As a key layer of the stablecoin technology stack, payment processors are the backbone of payment channels and mainly cover two categories: 1. Deposit and withdrawal service providers 2. Stablecoin issuance service providers. They act as a crucial intermediary layer in the payment lifecycle, connecting Web3 payments with traditional financial systems.

a. Deposit and Withdrawal Processor

• Moonpay: Supports over 80 cryptocurrencies, providing various deposit and withdrawal methods as well as token swap services to meet users' diverse cryptocurrency trading needs.
• Ramp Network: covering over 150 countries and providing deposit and withdrawal services for more than 90 types of crypto assets. The network handles all KYC) identity verification(, AML) anti-money laundering###, and compliance requirements, ensuring the compliance and security of deposit and withdrawal services.
• Alchemy Pay: a hybrid payment gateway solution that supports bi-directional exchange and payment between fiat currencies and crypto assets, achieving the integration of traditional fiat currency and crypto asset payments.

b. Stablecoin Issuance & Coordination Operators

• Bridge: The core products of Bridge include the Coordination API and the Issuance API. The former helps enterprises integrate multiple stablecoin payments and exchanges, while the latter supports enterprises in quickly issuing stablecoins. The platform is currently licensed in the United States and Europe and has established significant partnerships with the U.S. Department of State and the Department of the Treasury, possessing strong compliance operational capabilities and resource advantages.
• Brale ( in beta): Similar to the Bridge product, it is a regulated stablecoin issuance platform that provides stablecoin coordination and reserve management APIs. It has compliance licenses in various states across the United States, and partner companies must undergo KYB( corporate identity verification), while users need to set up accounts on Brale for KYC. Brale's clients are mainly on-chain OG(s such as: Etherfuse, Penera, etc.), which are slightly less backed by investors and BD compared to Bridge.
• Perena ( in beta ): The Numeraire platform of Perena lowers the issuance threshold for niche stablecoins by encouraging users to provide centralized liquidity in a single pool. Numeraire adopts a "central hub-radiating" model, where USD* serves as the central reserve asset, acting as the "hub" for stablecoin issuance and exchange. This mechanism allows for the efficient minting, redemption, and trading of various stablecoins linked to different assets or jurisdictions, with each stablecoin acting as a similar "spoke" connected to USD*. Through this system structure, Numeraire ensures deep liquidity and enhances capital efficiency, as small stablecoins can interoperate through USD* without needing to provide decentralized liquidity pools for each trading pair. The ultimate design goal of the system is not only to enhance price stability and reduce slippage, but also to enable seamless conversions between stablecoins.

![Analyzing the stablecoin ecosystem from both technical and business perspectives](