The role of stablecoins in global payments: coexistence or competition with traditional rails

David Rosa, Rapyd GM of FX, Wallets, Portals & Payouts, shares insights on stablecoin integration in TradFi. Discover how digital assets offer new benefits and face challenges in payments.

What is driving the adoption of stablecoins in 2026 among institutional players? 

At Rapyd, we view stablecoins primarily as an extension of the US dollar. While stablecoins exist in other currencies, the strongest institutional demand is driven by the US dollar’s role in cross-border payments. The US dollar accounts for a majority of international trade invoicing, and most cross-border transactions are still settled in USD. Moving US dollars through traditional financial rails outside the US is highly inefficient. Payments rely on correspondent banking networks via SWIFT, involving multiple intermediaries. This slows transactions, increases costs, and results in a poor client experience. Stablecoins address these pain points directly. As digital representations of the US dollar, they enable near-real-time settlement without intermediaries. Once a transaction is initiated on a blockchain, value is moved instantly on a single, global ledger. This combination of USD-denominated value, reduced friction, faster settlement, and, thanks to Rapyd’s abstraction layer, lower operational complexity is the key driver behind institutional stablecoin adoption in global payments.

Which use cases are proving most valuable for treasuries?

For treasuries, the core value lies in the ability to deploy liquidity in real time. Ensuring the right amount of cash is available in the right place at the right time is one of the most persistent challenges in treasury management. For businesses operating cross-border, often in US dollars, stablecoins significantly improve this process. Instead of waiting days for funds to move through traditional banking rails, liquidity becomes available almost instantly. This real-time access to USD liquidity enables faster decision-making, more efficient cash management, and better operational control. This shift from delayed to immediate availability is a fundamental game-changer.

What problems are stablecoins solving for treasury operations?

Stablecoins are particularly effective at solving treasury challenges when dealing with US dollars. Outside the US, there are no widely available fiat-based real-time payment rails for USD. Even within the US, real-time payment adoption remains fragmented and relatively slow compared to other regions. Stablecoins fill a critical gap by enabling near-instant, global movement of US dollars, which traditional correspondent banking struggles to deliver efficiently. For global USD liquidity, they offer a uniquely effective solution.

How is Rapyd addressing these needs?

Rapyd’s stablecoin strategy evolved naturally from its core card acquiring and payment infrastructure business. As a global card acquirer, Rapyd traditionally settles card proceeds into local bank accounts. Increasingly international merchants are asking to receive settlements in US dollar stablecoins such as USDC and USDT. The driver was practical: maintaining US dollar bank accounts outside the US is overly complicated. For businesses that earn and price in US dollars, stablecoin settlement offers a reliable alternative, mitigating significant FX costs and operational friction. As volumes grew, Rapyd extended this capability to payouts, enabling merchants to pay suppliers and remote employees directly in stablecoins. More recently, Rapyd added stablecoin pay-ins, allowing merchants to accept USDC or USDT. Stablecoins also play a key role in liquidity management, particularly in emerging markets, enabling faster, more efficient movement of funds compared to traditional correspondent banking rails.

With initiatives like SWIFT’s platform connecting traditional rails to DLTs, how do you see traditional and new players interacting?

The rapid adoption and growing credibility of stablecoins have clearly caught the attention of traditional financial institutions. Banks, payment networks, and messaging providers are beginning to seriously engage with stablecoins as a legitimate extension of the global payments ecosystem. Regulations, such as the GENIUS Act in the US and MiCA in Europe, have been a key catalyst, providing clarity and oversight, giving traditional institutions the confidence to participate. Stablecoins are increasingly viewed as regulated instruments for moving value, rather than purely through a speculative crypto lens. While many traditional institutions are experimenting, they often replicate closed, permissioned models that resemble correspondent banking, with heavy bilateral KYB and KYC requirements. Crypto-native payment models, by contrast, are designed for open, global value transfer.

While regulation has legitimised stablecoins, aligning traditional mindsets with truly global, real-time money movement remains a work in progress.

Do you expect stablecoins to complement or disrupt existing payment infrastructure over the next 3–5 years?

I see stablecoins as ultimately disruptive. While they may initially complement traditional infrastructure, their broader impact is reshaping how value moves globally. In the US, for example, stablecoins are effectively replacing the need for a US dollar CBDC. The private sector is leading the issuance and distribution of stablecoins, allowing the US dollar to flow globally in ways the traditional banking system cannot replicate. This creates a highly disruptive dynamic, shifting control from central banks to market participants. This approach differs from regions like China and parts of Asia, where the focus is on central bank digital currencies rather than private-sector led stablecoins.

In the US dollar ecosystem, stablecoins are changing the structure and the players of cross-border payments, making the traditional stakeholders less dominant over time.

This editorial is part of the Global Stablecoins Report 2026. Explore how stablecoins are moving from hype to utility for banks, merchants, and fintechs.

About the author

David Rosa is a seasoned fintech entrepreneur with a proven track record of successfully scaling businesses and navigating cross-border trade complexities. Career highlights include being Citi’s youngest Managing Director in Asia, cofounder of Neat, a Hong Kong Neobank, and is now the General Manager of FX, Wallets & Payouts at Rapyd, a global Fintech-as-a-service platform.

 

About Rapyd

Rapyd lets you build bold. Liberate global commerce with all the tools your business needs to create payment, payout, and fintech experiences everywhere. From Fortune 500s to ambitious business and technology upstarts, our payments network and powerful fintech platform make it easy to pay suppliers and get paid by customers—locally or internationally.