Stablecoin payments are now a real market

Stablecoin payments are hot right now, and the biggest names in payments are moving in.

We've found a lot of interesting signals. In December 2025, Visa let US banks settle in USDC, starting with Cross River and Lead Bank. Mastercard announced a deal to buy stablecoin payments startup BVNK for up to $1.8B in March 2026, and completed the acquisition in August. Both leading card networks are bringing stablecoins into their payment systems.

Here, we explain why stablecoin payments are taking off now, which money flows move first, and what the card networks' moves mean for startups.

Sending money across borders is still slow and expensive for many businesses, especially to and from emerging markets.

We compare six kinds of stablecoin payment companies, from cross-border transfers to merchant payments and payout tools. Then we rank what businesses and banks most need fixed, including high fees, slow transfers and compliance checks.

This shows which payments companies will move to stablecoins first, and which ones they will keep on bank rails.

Fees per transfer, foreign exchange spreads, card interchange, interest on reserves shared with partners, and API or platform fees: stablecoin payment companies earn money in many ways.

We compare currency spreads, card fees and income shared on reserves. Exchange margins can shrink as competition grows. Card programs pay banks and networks, while reserve income changes with interest rates. Compliance and cash-out costs matter for all of them.

You'll see which models still make money when transfer fees race toward zero.

Growth figures are only useful if you know what drives them. So we lay out the forces behind ours.

Some drivers are clear: new US and European rules that make stablecoins safer to use, cheaper and faster cross-border payments, and demand for dollars in countries with weak currencies. Others reinforce each other. More merchants accepting stablecoins give people more reasons to hold them. Better ramps make each new corridor cheaper. And once a company pays suppliers in stablecoins, it often moves payroll too.

Before building or investing, you should know what makes a finance team trust stablecoins with real payments, and what it costs to turn them back into local money.

Circle and MoonPay come up first in most conversations about stablecoin payments, but they're only part of the market.

Many interesting players are less visible. Some pay freelancers in Latin America or Africa in digital dollars. Others help shops accept stablecoins at checkout, run payroll in stablecoins, or provide the ramp that turns them into pesos, naira or euros.

They're hard to compare because many work behind other brands. A fintech app may show its own logo while a startup moves the money underneath. And payment volume on a blockchain doesn't show how much of it is real commerce rather than transfers between exchanges.

In this section, we share our market grids and ecosystem maps, so you can see who handles each step, from the first dollar sent to the cash in the bank.

Rain, Bitso, Yellow Card… a few companies have turned stablecoins into payment businesses with real volume.

Rain helps fintechs issue cards funded by stablecoins. Bitso handles transfers between the US and Latin America. Yellow Card serves African businesses that struggle to access dollars. Each focused on a payment problem where banks have gaps.

We'll look at how these teams chose a corridor or a use case, secured banking and licenses early, and won customers who pay for more than speed.