The Great Payment Paradox
We live in an age where you can stream 4K video instantly to any device on Earth, yet sending $100 to your cousin in another country still takes 3-5 business days and costs $25 in fees.
Welcome to the broken world of TradFi payments 🧵
We’ve all, at some point, talked about TradFi payments being run on digital duct tape.
As ‘instant’ as Venmo transfers are, there lies a maze of 1960s mainframes, COBOL code maintained by octogenarians, and thousands of banks speaking different languages through SWIFT messages.
Traditional payments have 3 layers of failure:
▪️ Settlement: 2-5 days for "finality"
▪️ Messaging: Banks sending each other emails about money
▪️ Reconciliation: Armies of accountants matching records
Stablecoins collapse this into instant, programmable, transparent settlement
One of the main reasons why stablecoins have become the gateway drug to mainstream finance. Once you use them, going back feels barbaric.
Stablecoins have quietly become the rails powering $27.6 trillion in annual payment volume, surpassing Visa and Mastercard combined.
The numbers don't lie:
▪️ SWIFT processes $5.4 trillion daily
▪️ Stablecoins: $300 billion in circulation, growing 40% annually
▪️ In emerging markets, your local "mobile money agent" is increasingly your "Tether guy"
The infrastructure shift is already happening.
The GENIUS Act changed everything. By backing stablecoins with T-bills and overnight repo, the US essentially weaponized the dollar for the digital age.
Why hold money in a 0.01% savings account when $USDC backed by 4% treasuries exists?
Asia isn't waiting.
> Cambodia's Bakong system processed $104.81 billion in blockchain payments in 2024, that's 330% of the country's GDP flowing through digital rails.
> Asia-Pacific monthly on-chain value grew from $81 billion (July 2022) to $244 billion (December 2024)
> 4.5 million merchants accept universal QR codes. Singapore hit $1 billion in crypto merchant payments in Q2 alone.
The math is simple: if you're a Fortune 500 CFO watching your cash earn 0.01% while stablecoins backed by 4% treasuries exist, the status quo becomes indefensible.
@Mastercard tokenized 30% of transactions in 2024 and now enables stablecoins across 3.5B cards. @StanChart launched an HKD stablecoin JV and predicts $30T tokenization by 2034.
And of course, it's only the beginning!
For merchants, stablecoins solve the "next day settlement" problem. Instead of waiting for Visa to clear yesterday's payments, they get money instantly.
Cross-border payment companies like @xrexinc are building infrastructure to help merchants access USD liquidity without traditional banking delays. Restaurant owners can pay suppliers immediately. E-commerce platforms can settle with vendors in real-time.
The Fintech 3.0 Moment
If Fintech 1.0 was better UX and Fintech 2.0 was better APIs, then Fintech 3.0 is better payment infrastructure.
Every business that adopts stablecoins makes the network more valuable:
▪️ More merchants accepting them
▪️ More consumers using them
▪️ More liquidity flowing through the system
▪️ More developers building on the infrastructure
We're hitting the inflection point.
2025 is the year of payments-focused blockchains:
▪️ @Tether_to's Plasma Network
▪️ @0xPolygon's infrastructure push with @0xMarcB
▪️ @PayPal's $PYUSD scaling globally
▪️ @Circle's multi-chain CCTP expansion
Each optimized for different use cases, all EVM-compatible.
Stablecoins are just the beginning. Once payment rails run on blockchain infrastructure, everything becomes tokenizable:
▪️Treasuries (think @sparkdotfi's institutional focus)
▪️FX markets (@MentoLabs building borderless currency infrastructure)
▪️Real estate
▪️Loyalty points
From 10,000 fragmented payment systems to ~20 global standards.
One integration with stablecoin rails = global reach.
@krakenfx and @Worldpay_Global building the bridges. @FirstDigitalHQ solving liquidity depth. It's the containerization of money.
By end of 2026, we'll see:
▪️ Major retailer accepting stablecoins
▪️ AI agents paying autonomously on-chain
▪️ Local currency stables in 10+ countries
▪️ $1T+ in circulation
The payments revolution will just quietly make everything work better
(choose not to believe)
Singapore has become the gateway for institutional stablecoin adoption, from @MAS_sg’s progressive stance to hosting key debates like Stablecoin Summit on Oct 2 at Andaz Singapore.
Where else will @coinbase, @EYnews, @Google, and @BIS_org debate the future of money in one room?
3.34K
4
The content on this page is provided by third parties. Unless otherwise stated, OKX is not the author of the cited article(s) and does not claim any copyright in the materials. The content is provided for informational purposes only and does not represent the views of OKX. It is not intended to be an endorsement of any kind and should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell digital assets. To the extent generative AI is utilized to provide summaries or other information, such AI generated content may be inaccurate or inconsistent. Please read the linked article for more details and information. OKX is not responsible for content hosted on third party sites. Digital asset holdings, including stablecoins and NFTs, involve a high degree of risk and can fluctuate greatly. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.