Web3 in B2B payments: real-world use cases and the role of stablecoins – a conversation with Fipto

With the rise of Web3 infrastructure and stablecoins, B2B cross-border payments are experiencing a major transformation. In this session, we speak with Fipto’s Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer Grégoire Andrieu-Guitrancourt, to explore how blockchain, programmable finance, and AI are reshaping the future of global business transactions.

Stablecoins are transforming cross-border business payments. What pain points are they solving?

While the demand for real-time payments is accelerating, the limitations of the global financial infrastructure have never been more visible, especially when it comes to cross-border payments: intermediated processes, fragmented operations hours, batch processing model, significant locked-in capital, limited currency convertibility, slowed-down transactions, and inflated costs. Businesses experience delays, uncertainty on settlement timing, and lack of visibility on fees or FX outcomes.

Stablecoins offer a breakthrough. They bring the speed, transparency, cost-efficiency, and 24/7 availability of blockchain to business payments. Fipto enables companies to leverage stablecoins as a core settlement mechanism, eliminating unnecessary hops and enabling payments to settle in minutes, even in traditionally difficult corridors.

This results in fewer operational bottlenecks, better cash positioning, and direct access to emerging markets, without needing to interact with crypto directly. Our infrastructure handles the complexity behind the scenes.

What are the key advantages that stablecoins bring to B2B transactions, especially compared to legacy banking rails or SWIFT-based transfers?

Stablecoins unlock four key advantages for businesses:

1. Faster settlements: Blockchain rails offer near-instant settlement. What takes 2-7 days on SWIFT or local correspondent banks can be completed within minutes, even across time zones or during weekends.
   
2. Cost efficiency: Removing intermediaries and layering reduces transaction fees. In some cases, Fipto clients save up to 80% on payment costs.
   
3. Transparency: Every payment is visible on-chain, removing ambiguity around payment status.
   
4. 24/7/365 availability: Stablecoins are not bound by cut-off times or national holidays. This is especially critical for just-in-time procurement and treasury agility

When compared to traditional rails, stablecoins represent a step-function improvement. Not just in performance, but in control.

Can you provide real-world examples or case studies where businesses have already seen measurable value from adopting stablecoin-based payment solutions?

We see consistent traction around three main use cases, each solving a real operational challenge for businesses in cross-border contexts:

1. Replacing correspondent banking for outbound payments

Many clients use stablecoins to settle international payments either via stablecoin sandwich (fiat > stablecoin > fiat), or by settling directly in stablecoins when counterparties accept them. This approach effectively replaces the traditional correspondent banking infrastructure, especially in corridors where same-day settlement is not available or prohibitively expensive; for example payments between hard-to-reach countries or to regions with limited FX liquidity.

The impact is tangible: payments that used to take multiple days now settle within minutes, with full traceability and predictable settlement values.

2. Accepting stablecoins as inbound payments

Clients also use Fipto to accept payments in stablecoins from their own customers. In many cases, they choose to auto-convert back to fiat to avoid holding digital assets on their balance sheet. This offers multiple advantages:

●       Avoiding exposure to volatile or weak local currencies;

●       Reducing counterparty risk by settling instantly, 24/7;

●       Offering clients more flexible, on-chain payment options;

●       Enabling payments outside of banking hours: no missed cut-off times or weekend delays

This is particularly relevant in emerging markets or where clients demand faster settlement methods than traditional banking rails can provide.

3. Treasury mobility and internal liquidity management

For large corporates and groups with subsidiaries in multiple regions, stablecoins offer a fast and programmable rail for intercompany treasury movements. Instead of waiting days for transfers between local bank accounts, they can move funds globally and nearly instantly with full control and auditability. This unlocks idle capital, improves cash visibility, and enhances liquidity utilisation at the group level.

We see Payment Service Providers (PSPs) leading adoption across these use cases, particularly for payout automation and merchant settlements. Increasingly, large corporations are also turning to stablecoins, specifically for corridors that aren’t well served by traditional treasury platforms or cash-pooling structures.

Fipto enables these flows without requiring companies to handle crypto directly. All conversion, custody, and compliance are managed on our side, delivering the benefits of blockchain rails through a familiar B2B experience.

Beyond current applications, how do you see AI and programmability evolving in stablecoin-powered B2B payments?

The future of payments isn’t just about speed, it’s about automation and intelligence. The convergence of AI and programmable currencies is reshaping how value moves across global systems. We’re moving from an era of manual, one-size-fits-all instructions to intelligent, condition-based execution, where AI agents can initiate, validate, and optimise payments in real-time.

This opens up a wide range of use cases: automated trade finance, where funds are released based on supply chain data; escrow accounts that settle automatically when contract terms are fulfilled; on-chain FX, where currency conversion is embedded directly in programmable flows; and automated treasury operations, where idle funds are deployed or rebalanced autonomously.

But current global payment systems weren’t built to support this. They can’t accommodate real-time triggers or conditional logic natively. That’s where stablecoins come in.

At Fipto, we see stablecoins as the programmable layer that enables this future. They combine the stability of fiat with the flexibility of code. In time, we expect autonomous agents to handle everything from just-in-time supplier payments to intra-group cash pooling with governance rules embedded into every transaction.

To support this, we’ve developed the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a server architecture that allows AI agents to interact securely with APIs, without compromising control or compliance. It’s the orchestration layer between company rules and real-world payment actions.

We explain this model in our recent article on Payment Agents and MCPs. Fipto has released the first MCP designed specifically for stablecoin payments, and we believe every serious payment provider will need one to remain relevant in the next phase of automation.

Stablecoins have also been seen as a potential disruptor for the FX market. How do you envision their role in reshaping foreign exchange dynamics?

Stablecoins challenge the FX status quo by introducing programmable, transparent, and currency rails that are compatible with fiat payment networks. Rather than routing funds through multiple banks, traders, and settlement layers, businesses can use digital dollars or euros to settle directly with partners, bypassing many of the costs and inefficiencies of traditional FX.

At the core of this shift is what we call the ‘stablecoin sandwich’: a mechanism where a fiat currency is converted into a stablecoin (e.g. EUR > USDC), transferred over blockchain rails, and converted again to the destination fiat currency (e.g. USDC > MXN). Using this method, liquidity remains high, spreads are competitive, and timing is controlled. All of this is managed through Fipto’s infrastructure.

Looking ahead, the introduction of smart contracts and atomic swaps will push this even further. We foresee settlement models where currency exchanges can be embedded within the payment flow, governed by programmable rules. This means trades can settle only when conditions are met, eliminating counterparty risk and enhancing transparency. These atomic swaps remove the pre-funding or post-trade reconciliation steps and allow for real-time FX execution across borders, blockchains, and institutions.

In short, FX is becoming an embedded feature of the payment itself, not a separate pre-trade activity. The infrastructure to support this is live today, and programmable FX is where we see the next wave of optimisation along with AI and MCP servers.

In a world where stablecoin rails gain traction and start replacing traditional FX settlement systems, what role should central banks play? Is there room for cooperation?

Stablecoin rails aren’t just gaining traction, they’re redefining how global FX and value settlement can work. In this context, central banks have a foundational role to play. Not only is there room for cooperation, there is a critical need for it.

One of the clearest areas where this cooperation should materialise is cross-border payments. Today, traditional infrastructure based on correspondent banking and time-zoned clearing systems struggles to deliver fast, cost-efficient settlement across borders. Stablecoins already solve many of these issues: they provide instant, transparent, and global rails. But they can’t do it alone.

We’re at the intersection of fiat and crypto, and that’s exactly where central banks are increasingly positioning themselves. They need to ensure that their domestic currencies remain relevant and competitive, whether in physical, digital, or tokenised form. That means not just observing this shift, but actively shaping it.

To enable responsible adoption at scale, central banks can:

●       Define common standards for cross-border stablecoin use;

●       Promote interoperability between public money and private rails;

●       Facilitate access to real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS);

●       Guide reserve and backing frameworks for fiat-backed digital assets.

Far from being in opposition, stablecoins and CBDCs can play complementary roles. Stablecoins, particularly those backed 1:1 by fiat and operating under robust regulatory frameworks are already demonstrating how programmable, cross-border settlement can work at scale. This evolution offers useful signals for central banks as they design their own digital currency strategies, not as a direct blueprint, but as a proof of demand and feasibility for programmable digital assets in the real economy.

As MiCA rolls out across Europe, we expect stablecoin issuers to meet banking-grade standards in terms of reserve management, operational resilience, and transparency. That kind of framework can serve as common ground for future collaboration between public and private rails.

Ultimately, the goal should be shared: to build a more efficient, resilient, and accessible global payment network.

The big question: how do you see crypto and stablecoin regulation evolving in the coming months, especially in the US? What would be the ideal regulatory scenario for innovation and adoption?

We’re entering a new phase. Regulation is accelerating globally across Europe, Asia, and now the US. MiCA in Europe is already live, creating a harmonised framework for stablecoins and digital assets. In Asia, jurisdictions like Singapore (under the DPT regime) and Hong Kong are also shaping clear, forward-looking standards.

In parallel, adoption is reaching an inflection point. Large financial institutions and global banks are entering the space, not just through pilots, but through real product launches. These two trends - regulatory clarity and institutional adoption - are reinforcing each other. We expect this momentum to continue.

In the United States, the landscape is evolving rapidly. The current administration appears open to considering USD-backed stablecoins as their CBDC and a way to reinforce USD dominance in global trade and even offer macro benefits in financing government deficits. These are powerful tailwinds.

CBDCs may be different from stablecoins, or based on stablecoins. What we know for sure is that unlike CBDCs, stablecoins are already operational, market-tested, and the business use cases are clear. That said, CBDCs may still have a role to play in certain use cases, but their direction remains uncertain. What’s clear is that central banks need to think urgently about cross-border payment topics, and stablecoins are already addressing that need.

Still, there’s a crucial balance to strike. While regulation provides trust and structure, it must also leave room for experimentation. The key question is whether jurisdictions will create a level playing field for innovation. If not, there’s a real risk of regulatory arbitrage where companies relocate to the most favourable jurisdictions.

About the author

Grégoire Andrieu-Guitrancourt is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Fipto, the leading B2B stablecoin payment infrastructure. Convinced by the transformative power of blockchain technology, Grégoire leverages his expertise in the payment industry to lead Fipto’s teams in designing the next-generation payment infrastructure. Before joining Fipto, Grégoire was the Chief Revenue Officer at iBanFirst until 2022. Grégoire holds an MSc in Management from Em Lyon Business School.

About Fipto 

Fipto is a global stablecoin payment infrastructure for businesses, leveraging blockchain technology to provide fast, secure, and cost-efficient payment solutions. Committed to regulatory compliance, Fipto facilitates global money movement with 24/7, instant, global, stablecoin payment rails. Fipto holds multiple licenses and regulatory approvals, including a Payment Institution license with the ACPR in France, a DASP registration with the AMF in France, and a VASP registration with the CSSF in Luxembourg.