What happened? Dakota, a fintech that started as a stablecoin-enabled business banking product, is repositioning itself as an infrastructure provider aimed at helping enterprises and fintechs move money using stablecoins without taking on the licensing, custody and compliance burden that typically comes with payments and banking.
The company said Thursday it is rolling out an API-based platform that lets customers embed stablecoin-based payments, treasury operations and payouts directly into their own products. The pitch: instead of companies stitching together custody providers, compliance vendors and cross-border rails — or pursuing their own regulatory approvals — Dakota aims to offer “regulated primitives” as modular building blocks.
“Most companies don’t want to become banks or payments networks,” Dakota Chief Executive Officer Ryan Bozarth said. “They want reliable, regulated primitives that let them move money inside their own products.”
“Dakota is building that infrastructure so teams can stay focused on product and growth, not licensing, custody, or compliance,” he added.
The platform includes APIs for custody and “orchestration,” embedded compliance workflows such as KYB and transaction monitoring, and tools for global payouts and cross-border treasury operations. The company also said it plans to add stablecoin issuance capabilities, including the potential to support white-label issuance for customers.
From “business account” to infrastructure layer
Dakota’s pivot is notable because it reflects a broader shift in stablecoin adoption: while stablecoins are widely used within crypto markets, mainstream payment use cases have been slower to scale due to regulatory, compliance and operational hurdles — especially for firms that don’t want to become regulated financial institutions.
Dakota says its infrastructure was informed by operating its earlier business banking and stablecoin product, which it plans to keep available.
That earlier offering positioned Dakota as a “global business account” powered by stablecoins and backed by US Treasuries, targeting faster cross-border movement and treasury yield.
In 2024, the company emerged from stealth with a model that included generating returns via lending through decentralized finance protocols, seeking an alternative to earlier centralized crypto lenders.
One example of how Dakota has approached “stablecoin rails” in its banking product comes from a case study published by Bridge — a stablecoin orchestration and issuance platform now owned by Stripe. Bridge said Dakota used its orchestration API to move money across fiat rails such as ACH, Fedwire, SWIFT and SEPA while also issuing a restricted, platform-bound stablecoin called DKUSD that was backed by Treasuries and could not leave Dakota’s platform.
Regulatory posture: MSB in the US, licenses in Europe in progress
Dakota said it operates within a regulated framework in the US and is registered as a Money Services Business, with active state money transmitter licenses. It also said it is pursuing an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license and a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization in Europe.
This is central to the company’s messaging because, in many jurisdictions, custody and money transmission requirements can make it difficult for non-financial companies to touch customer funds or run payment flows directly. The company says it’s embedding KYB, AML, monitoring and reporting directly into the platform as “compliance-as-code,” reducing reliance on multiple third-party vendors.
“If stablecoins are going to power real economic activity, they need to integrate with existing compliance and risk standards,” Bozarth said. “Our role is to make that integration native, not an afterthought.”
Dakota is backed by CoinFund
Dakota last disclosed a US$12.5 million Series A led by CoinFund, with participation from 6th Man Ventures (6MV) and Triton Ventures.
CoinFund’s investment thesis framed Dakota as a layer that helps businesses operate across both fiat and crypto-native rails, citing the founding team’s background in firms such as Coinbase, Square and Airbnb.
stablecoin “orchestration” becomes a crowded lane
Dakota’s infrastructure positioning places it in an increasingly competitive segment often described as stablecoin payment infrastructure or “orchestration,” where providers offer APIs that abstract away compliance, custody and settlement complexity.
Key competitors and adjacent players include:
Bridge (Stripe-owned): Bridge provides orchestration, issuance, wallets and cross-border payments APIs, and has been positioned by Stripe as a stablecoin layer used by organizations including SpaceX and others for cross-border money movement.
Zero Hash: Zero Hash offers APIs for stablecoin payouts and other crypto infrastructure, marketing itself as a compliant way for platforms to offer stablecoins as a payout option.
Fireblocks and its partner network: Fireblocks launched a “Network for Payments” intended to connect local payment rails, stablecoin issuers, liquidity and compliance partners, with the company claiming hundreds of payment companies are live on the network.
BVNK: BVNK is a regulated, full-stack platform that enables businesses to send, receive, and store stablecoins while converting them to fiat currency in real-time.
The overlap is not just product-level. Dakota itself has worked with Bridge including using Bridge APIs for transfers and deposits while it developed plans to migrate issuance in-house.
Stablecoins are moving from “crypto utility” to payment rails
Stablecoins’ adoption trajectory is increasingly tied to tangible cost and speed advantages in cross-border payments and treasury operations. In an EY-Parthenon survey of more than 350 executives, 41% of organizations that had used stablecoins reported cost savings of 10% or more, primarily from cross-border payment efficiencies; the report also found many firms expect stablecoins to account for 5% to 10% of global payments by 2030 (an EY-Parthenon estimate equating to roughly $2.1 trillion to $4.2 trillion).
But the same survey and related industry commentary point to a consistent constraint: firms want stablecoin functionality delivered through compliant, familiar channels rather than building the stack themselves. That creates a market opening for providers that can bundle licensing, compliance controls, custody and settlement into a single API surface — precisely the gap Dakota is targeting.
Similar efforts — and what’s worked so far
The “bridge stablecoins into everyday finance” playbook has already produced some measurable traction:
Card-linked spending: Visa and Bridge launched stablecoin-linked Visa card programs in parts of Latin America, aiming to make stablecoin balances spendable at merchants that accept Visa by handling backend conversion and settlement.
Network aggregation: Fireblocks has pushed a network approach that attempts to standardize connectivity between stablecoin issuers, payout corridors, liquidity providers and compliance partners across jurisdictions.
Platform-bound stablecoins for treasury and payouts: Bridge’s case study with Dakota describes rapid issuance and internal adoption of a restricted stablecoin (DKUSD) designed to reduce depegging and off-platform risk, illustrating a pattern where stablecoins are used as internal settlement units even if end users never touch a public token.
Dakota’s bet is that these “production” use cases will expand as more enterprises seek always-on settlement, especially for cross-border contractor payouts, marketplace disbursements and treasury movement — without assembling a complex vendor stack or taking on regulatory exposure.
What remains uncertain is how quickly large banks and major payment processors will productize similar capabilities at scale. If they do, infrastructure startups may face pressure on pricing and differentiation. For now, Dakota is trying to win on speed-to-market and regulatory packaging: offering stablecoin rails as an embedded feature rather than a new line of business.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Read our Editorial Policy. Parts of this article were drafted/ researched with the assistance of AI tools and subsequently reviewed, edited, and verified by the author and our editorial team to ensure accuracy and journalistic integrity. The final version reflects human editorial judgment and fact-checking. Read our AI Policy.
Image Credits: Ryan Bozarth, Canva
