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For most of the past decade, the debate around stablecoins in payments revolved around a single question: do they actually work? Can digital assets settle real transactions, serve real customers, and operate within real regulatory frameworks?
That question today has been answered. B2B stablecoin payment volume reached $226 billion in 2024, representing 733% year-over-year growth according to a McKinsey-Artemis study. MiCA has introduced a workable regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers and operators in Europe. The GENIUS Act in the United States is moving institutional treasury teams from cautious observation to active deployment. Major financial institutions, payment networks, and corporate treasuries are no longer asking whether stablecoins belong in their infrastructure but are asking how to operationalise them.
That shift that we experience, from experimentation to operationalisation, is the real inflexion point. And it is where most of the complexity now lives. From a PaymentGenes stance, advising fintechs, PSPs, global merchants and financial institutions on strategy and M&A, we are seeing the same pattern repeat: organisations that move fast on stablecoins without getting the infrastructure layer right find themselves rebuilding it twelve months later, at significantly greater cost. The margin pressure argument for stablecoins is compelling. Cross-border payments through correspondent banking rails cost between 1% and 3% and settle in days. Stablecoin rails compress that to minutes — or seconds — at a fraction of the cost. But capturing that advantage requires more than connecting to a blockchain. It requires owning the operational layer that sits beneath the product.
In our latest piece, jointly with Utila, a stablecoin and digital asset infrastructure provider serving fintechs, PSPs, banks, and enterprises, we explore why the stablecoin infrastructure decision has become one of the most consequential strategic choices facing PSPs, fintechs, and banks today, and what getting it right actually requires in practice.
For the full conversation, click here.
The limiting factor in stablecoin adoption is no longer technology. The blockchains work. The settlement logic is solid, and the lower cost base is proven. The constraint has shifted to a different layer entirely, one that is less visible and, for that reason, consistently underestimated.
Four pressure points stand out from our work with clients across the payments and fintech landscape.
The economics of stablecoin settlement are not a future proposition. For PSPs and fintechs operating cross-border corridors, the difference between 1–3% in correspondent banking fees and the marginal cost of on-chain settlement is already material. In high-volume corridors — particularly across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, where banking infrastructure is expensive and unreliable — the unit economics argument is not theoretical. It is showing up in pricing conversations and competitive dynamics today.
Most mid-sized fintechs and PSPs underestimate what it takes to build stablecoin infrastructure themselves. The visible parts — choosing a blockchain, integrating a wallet API, connecting a ramp provider — are manageable. The invisible parts are not. MPC key management, multi-chain transaction signing, governance policy enforcement, gas abstraction, and the security architecture required to operate at institutional scale represent deep platform engineering problems that require specialised expertise to get right.
From an M&A and partnership perspective, we are increasingly seeing digital asset infrastructure capability show up in valuation conversations. Companies that have solved the custody, governance, and compliance layer — and can demonstrate that their operations are audit-ready, scalable, and jurisdictionally portable — are better positioned for strategic partnerships, licensing arrangements, and acquisition interest than those operating on top of a bundled provider they do not fully control.
MiCA is live. The GENIUS Act is advancing. The 'wait and see' position on stablecoins is no longer a neutral stance — it is a decision to let better-prepared competitors move first. The organizations that establish their operational infrastructure now, within an increasingly clear regulatory framework, will have a meaningful head start when volume and margin pressure force the rest of the market to act.
The conversation with Utila reinforces what at PaymentGenes we observe across the fintech and financial services market. The organizations that will lead in payments over the next three to five years are not necessarily the ones with the most innovative products — they are the ones that get the infrastructure layer right at the right moment. That window is open now, and it will not stay open indefinitely.
From a payments strategy perspective, there are several dimensions worth stress-testing inside your organization:
On competitive positioning: stablecoins are rapidly shifting from a differentiator to a table-stakes capability in certain corridors and verticals. PSPs and fintechs operating in cross-border B2B payments, payroll, or treasury services who do not have a credible stablecoin strategy in their 2026–2027 roadmap are falling behind. You should already be thinking at what pace and with what infrastructure underneath it to start engaging.
On operational readiness: the gap between launching a stablecoin product and running one at scale is larger than most organizations anticipate. As the conversation with Utila makes clear, the security and governance decisions made at the start of the journey compound — for better or worse — with every dollar of volume that follows. Getting the foundational architecture right before scaling is significantly cheaper than rebuilding it under pressure.
On partnerships and ecosystem positioning: the stablecoin stack is not a single vendor decision. It involves custody, compliance, liquidity, on/off-ramps, and increasingly yield and treasury. How you structure those relationships — what you own, who you partner with, and on what terms — will directly affect your margins, your flexibility, and your ability to serve clients across jurisdictions. This is a strategic design question, not a procurement one.
On M&A and transactions: infrastructure capability is appearing in due diligence with increasing regularity. Companies that have built a clean, modular, auditable digital asset stack are easier to integrate, easier to license, and more attractive to acquirers and strategic partners. If a transaction — buy side or sell side — is part of your horizon, this is worth getting right now rather than cleaning up later.
To help you navigate this, we want to share three questions we would put to any Head of Strategy or C-level leader in payments right now:
Stablecoins have crossed the threshold. They are no longer a crypto story, a niche use case, or a regulatory question mark. They are emerging core payments infrastructure — and the operational challenge has shifted accordingly.
The organizations that will capture the most value from this shift are not necessarily the first to launch a stablecoin product. They are the ones that build — or acquire — the operational foundation that makes scale possible: controlled key management, enforceable governance, embedded compliance, and the flexibility to add corridors, chains, and counterparty relationships without re-platforming.
That foundation is available today. The question for every payments executive reading this is a simple one: is it on your agenda?
Secure Stablecoin & Digital Asset Infrastructure for Fintechs and Enterprises
Utila provides fintechs, PSPs, banks, and enterprises with institutional-grade infrastructure to build and manage stablecoin and digital asset operations at scale. The platform covers the full operational stack:
Utila is SOC 2 Type II compliant, supports 100+ blockchains, and connects to 30+ ecosystem partners including exchanges, on/off-ramps, AML/KYT providers, and yield venues. Most teams onboard in under five minutes.
Ready to explore what stablecoin infrastructure looks like for your organization?
Visit utila.io to speak with the team.
PaymentGenes Consultancy is a boutique strategy and M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on the fintech and payments sector. We advise fintechs, PSPs, banks, and investors on market entry, strategic partnerships, and transactions.
PaymentGenes Consultancy is a boutique strategy and M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on the fintech and payments sector. We advise fintechs, PSPs, banks, and investors on market entry, strategic partnerships, and transactions.
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