LemFi, a financial platform for people living and working across borders, has partnered with BVNK, a stablecoin payments infrastructure company, to move its cross-border settlement onto BVNK's regulated stablecoin payment infrastructure.
Addressing costs in cross-border remittances
LemFi serves approximately two million people who send money between the UK, Europe, Australia, and North America to beneficiaries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. According to LemFi, international payments have traditionally moved through correspondent banking and Swift networks, a process that can take several days to settle and adds cost at each stage of the transaction chain.
According to the World Bank, the global average cost of sending remittances was 6.36% in the third quarter of 2025, more than twice the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal target of 3% by 2030. LemFi said meeting the 3% target would return approximately USD 20 billion a year to families globally, and that faster, lower-cost settlement is one of the more direct mechanisms for reducing that gap.
How the settlement structure works
Under the new arrangement, settlement is routed over stablecoin infrastructure and then paid out to recipients in local currency at the destination. According to the companies, customers do not interact directly with stablecoins, hold a crypto balance, or leave their local currency at any point in the transaction; the underlying technology operates without changing the customer-facing experience of the app.
Broader stablecoin market context
Real-world stablecoin payment volumes reached USD 7.4 trillion over the past 12 months, according to the companies, with analysts cited by LemFi projecting that stablecoins could grow from approximately 3% of the cross-border payments market today to as much as 20% within a decade. The partnership builds on a stablecoin settlement strategy LemFi outlined in May 2026, when Tether made a strategic investment in the company to support stablecoin-based remittances across emerging markets.
Company commentary
A company official at LemFi said cross-border payment infrastructure has traditionally been slow and costly, adding that stablecoins allow for near-instant settlement while reducing costs, and that BVNK's infrastructure supports this at scale.
A company official at BVNK said stablecoins are increasingly serving as a foundational layer for global money movement, and that remittances represent one of the areas where this shift has a direct impact on individuals and families. The official said BVNK's infrastructure is intended to support LemFi in delivering faster and lower-cost transfers to the communities it serves.
BVNK operates a platform with more than 25 licences and regulatory approvals across the UK, Europe, and the US, alongside coverage in more than 130 countries, and its infrastructure is used to support stablecoin payments for a range of global enterprises.
Broader company context
The partnership forms part of LemFi's continued expansion from a remittance-focused platform into a broader financial services provider, spanning payments, credit, savings, and connectivity services. This follows LemFi's selection of London as its global headquarters, supported by a GBP 100 million UK investment commitment, alongside an expanding regulatory footprint across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia, and additional corridors in Africa and Asia. Stablecoin settlement will be introduced progressively across LemFi's markets, implemented on a market-by-market basis where local central bank and regulatory frameworks support its use.
