In Brief
- A stablecoin is a digital token designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to an asset such as the U.S. dollar, enabling faster blockchain-based payments and settlement.
- They are increasingly being tested for B2B payments, payroll, treasury management, merchant settlement and cross-border transactions.
- Stablecoins are not replacing banks overnight, but they are becoming a credible settlement layer for corporate finance.
Stablecoins are beginning to move out of crypto’s trading layer and into the back office of global business.
The shift is still early. Most stablecoin activity remains tied to exchanges, arbitrage, DeFi and market-making.
But the direction is becoming harder to dismiss.
B2B payments now account for about $226 billion, or roughly 60% of global stablecoin payment volume, according to McKinsey. That segment grew 733% YoY, indicating businesses are starting to use tokenized dollars for real payment flows.
The development marks a new phase for the stablecoin market.
For years, stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC served mainly as liquidity tools for crypto traders. They allowed investors to move between digital assets without returning to bank deposits. They also became collateral inside offshore exchanges and DeFi protocols.
That use case still remains central.
Stablecoin transaction volume reached a record $33 trillion in 2025, up 72% from a year earlier, according to Artemis Analytics data reported by Bloomberg. USDC accounted for $18.3 trillion of that activity, while USDT processed $13.3 trillion.
The headline numbers are large.
They also require caution. Not every onchain transfer is a commercial payment. Some flows reflect exchange wallets, trading bots, smart contracts and repeated movements between crypto platforms.
That is why the more important signal is not gross volume.
It is where the volume is moving.
Visa’s stablecoin analytics work tracks activity across major blockchains and adjusts for noisy onchain behavior. The company says stablecoin supply reached $274 billion in December 2025, up more than 50% from December 2024, while adjusted transaction volume was on track to exceed $10 trillion in 2025 after filtering out high-frequency trading wallets, smart-contract addresses and bot activity.
That puts stablecoins in a different category.
They are no longer just crypto-market instruments. They are becoming settlement infrastructure.
Why the trend matters
The financial system still runs on a patchwork of bank wires, card networks, correspondent banking, local clearing systems and manual reconciliation.
That infrastructure works, but it is not built for a world of instant software-driven commerce.
Cross-border business payments remain especially inefficient. A company paying a supplier in another country may deal with multiple banks, settlement delays, FX spreads, local cut-off times and unclear payment status. Payroll, marketplace payouts and treasury transfers face similar frictions.
Stablecoins offer a different model.
A tokenized dollar can move 24/7, settle within minutes and be routed through software. It can also be embedded into APIs, wallets, treasury systems and smart contracts.
That makes stablecoins relevant to the next phase of enterprise automation.
As AI systems enter finance departments, more routine decisions may be made or recommended by software: when to pay a vendor, how to optimize working capital, whether to rebalance treasury balances, or how to settle international payroll. Those systems need payment rails that can operate continuously and respond programmatically.
Traditional banking rails were designed around institutions.
Stablecoin rails are designed around software.
That does not mean they will replace banks. It means they could pressure banks and payment networks to modernize settlement, reduce costs and expose more programmable financial services to businesses.
Stripe’s data points to that change.
The company said stablecoin payments volume doubled in 2025 to around $400 billion, with 60% estimated to represent B2B payments. Bridge, the stablecoin orchestration platform Stripe acquired, saw volume more than quadruple.
Stripe’s broader business also gives the trend weight.
Businesses running on Stripe generated $1.9 trillion in total volume in 2025, up 34% from 2024. It’s noteworthy because stablecoins are moving into platforms that already serve mainstream businesses, not only crypto users.
Who will be impacted the most
The first group affected will be banks with cross-border payment revenue.
Correspondent banking and international wire services have historically benefited from complexity. Fees, FX spreads and settlement delays were tolerated because alternatives were limited. Stablecoins attack that logic directly.
A dollar token can bypass some intermediary layers.
That does not eliminate compliance obligations. It does, however, give FinTechs and payment companies a way to offer faster settlement in corridors where bank rails are slow or expensive.
The second group is card networks and payment processors.
Visa is not ignoring the shift. Its crypto chief said the company is working to integrate stablecoins into existing payment systems, including stablecoin-linked cards and a U.S. pilot allowing bank settlements using Circle’s USDC. Visa currently processes about $4.5 billion in annual stablecoin settlements, still small compared with its $14.2 trillion in total annual transaction volume.
That gap shows both the threat and the opportunity.
Stablecoins are not yet large enough to displace card networks at scale. But they are already large enough for payment networks to build around them.
The third group is FinTechs companies handling global merchant, payroll and marketplace payouts.
Klarna’s launch of KlarnaUSD is one example. The Swedish fintech introduced the stablecoin to reduce international payment costs, joining companies such as PayPal, Stripe, Wise and Revolut in exploring stablecoin-based settlement, according to the Financial Times.
The fourth group is corporate finance teams.
CFOs, treasurers and controllers are the practical buyers of this infrastructure. Their interest will not be ideological. They will care about faster settlement, lower cross-border costs, better liquidity visibility, automated reconciliation and reduced working-capital drag.
That is why the recent launch of Paystand’s USDb is relevant to the broader trend.
The company is positioning USDb as a settlement layer for accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll and treasury workflows, rather than as a trading asset. Paystand says its network has processed more than $20 billion in payment volume for more than one million businesses, while its Bitwage acquisition gives it a cross-border payroll channel across nearly 200 countries.
That model reflects where the market is moving.
Stablecoins are not just trying to win traders. They are trying to win workflows.
How incumbents can protect their business
The most vulnerable incumbents are those that treat stablecoins as a passing crypto product.
The stronger strategy is to treat them as a new settlement format.
Banks can start by building regulated stablecoin custody, issuance and redemption services. Businesses will not use stablecoins at scale unless they trust the reserves, redemption process and banking relationships behind them. That gives regulated banks a natural role.
Banks can also offer tokenized deposit and stablecoin treasury services.
Corporate clients will need tools for holding, sweeping, converting and reporting tokenized cash. They will also need compliance controls, audit trails and sanctions screening. Banks already provide much of this in traditional finance. The task is to adapt it to onchain settlement.
Payment networks can protect their role by becoming orchestration layers.
Instead of resisting stablecoins, they can route between card rails, bank accounts, stablecoins, tokenized deposits and local payment systems. Visa’s stablecoin pilots suggest that large networks understand this direction. The winning processors may be those that let merchants receive the payment format they want while consumers or businesses pay through the rail they prefer.
FinTechs can secure their position by owning the customer interface.
Stablecoins are infrastructure. Most businesses do not want to manage wallets, private keys, gas fees or blockchain selection. They want payments to clear, records to reconcile and compliance to work.
That creates room for Stripe, PayPal, Revolut, Wise, Paystand and others to abstract the complexity.
ERP providers and accounting platforms may also become important players.
If stablecoin payments are going to enter enterprise finance, they must connect to invoices, purchase orders, tax records, ledgers and bank statements. The companies that control those systems can influence how quickly stablecoin settlement becomes normal.
What could slow the shift
The trend is real, but it is not guaranteed.
Regulation remains the biggest variable. Stablecoin rules are becoming clearer in some markets, but global standards remain fragmented. Reserve quality, issuer licensing, consumer protection, sanctions compliance and redemption rights will shape which stablecoins businesses can safely use.
Liquidity fragmentation is another issue.
A stablecoin is useful only if companies can enter and exit it reliably. That requires banking partners, market makers, FX providers, custodians and local off-ramps.
Accounting and tax treatment also matter.
Corporate adoption slows when finance teams do not know how to classify, report or audit a new asset. Stablecoins may behave like cash, but in many jurisdictions they are not treated exactly like cash.
There is also operational risk.
If AI agents begin initiating payments, companies will need strict controls. Spending limits, approval hierarchies, fraud monitoring and human override systems will become essential. Programmability is powerful, but uncontrolled programmability creates risk.
The bottom line
Stablecoins are not replacing the financial system overnight.
But they are changing the competitive map.
The first phase of stablecoins was about crypto liquidity. The second phase is about payment infrastructure. The next battleground will be enterprise workflows: supplier payments, payroll, treasury, merchant settlement and cross-border B2B transactions.
That is why the shift matters.
If stablecoins become embedded in business software, the winners will not simply be the largest token issuers. They will be the companies that connect tokenized dollars to compliance, accounting, banking, liquidity and AI-driven automation.
Incumbents still have time.
But they need to move before stablecoins become invisible infrastructure inside the systems their corporate clients already use.
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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.
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