Stablecoin payments have reached a compelling level: between October 2024 and October 2025, stablecoins processed $9 trillion in adjusted payment activity, up 87% year over year.

Businesses are helping to drive this growth. Blockchains that process large transaction volumes quickly and efficiently, broad wallet connectivity standards, and straightforward application programming interfaces (APIs) are making stablecoins a practical option for payments that cross currencies and time zones.

But before they join in, teams should know the basics of this flexible currency. Below, we’ll talk about how stablecoin payments work, their advantages and disadvantages, and what it takes to support them responsibly.

What’s in this article?

• What are stablecoin payments?
  
• How do stablecoin payment flows and settlement mechanics work?
  
• What technologies enable stablecoin payment acceptance?
  
• How do stablecoin payments improve speed and cost efficiency?
  
• What obstacles limit broader stablecoin payment adoption?
  
• How can businesses implement and manage stablecoin payments?
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

What are stablecoin payments?

Stablecoin payments use a type of digital token called a stablecoin, which is often pegged to a fiat currency and backed by reserves. Stablecoins first gained traction among crypto traders who needed a stable asset that could stay outside of the banking system. Stablecoin payments now play a major role in global remittances, especially in markets with slow, fee-heavy, or fragile banking systems.

Businesses are adopting stablecoins for faster cross-border settlement, lower payment costs, and further reach. Some AI companies have reported a roughly 20% payment volume shift to stablecoins after adding the option, and large financial institutions are testing them for corporate transfers and interbank settlement.

How do stablecoin payment flows and settlement mechanics work?

Stablecoin payments resemble traditional bank-based payments at checkout, but the mechanics underneath are different. The stablecoin system runs on blockchains, which changes how authorization, settlement, timing, and reversals work.

Here’s the detailed flow:

• A customer with a crypto wallet chooses to pay in a stablecoin. They connect their wallet or scan a QR code from the checkout screen, confirm the amount, and sign the transaction. From the customer’s perspective, it’s as quick as using any other type of digital wallet.

• After the customer signs the transaction, their wallet broadcasts it to the blockchain network that supports that stablecoin (e.g., Ethereum, Solana, Polygon). The transaction enters the network’s mempool, a list of pending transactions, and nodes confirm it and include it in a block. Once a stablecoin payment is on the chain, it’s settled with no additional clearing steps (unlike with card payments). This happens in minutes or seconds, depending on the network.

Blockchains don’t support chargebacks. Once a payment is confirmed, it can’t be pulled back by a bank or network. If a business wants to issue a refund, it sends a new on-chain transaction to return the funds.

What technologies enable stablecoin payment acceptance?

The tech stack that powers stablecoins combines wallet connectivity, payments infrastructure, smart contracts, custody, and compliance tooling. It’s a big task if you build it yourself, but providers are developing turnkey options. Here’s what’s required.

Wallet connectivity lets customers pay

Tools like WalletConnect let customers’ crypto wallets communicate with a business’s checkout. A customer scans a QR code, their wallet opens, and the transaction details pass through. These protocols support hundreds of wallets so businesses don’t have to build bespoke integrations or guess which wallets customers prefer.

Blockchain networks settle the payment

Major stablecoins typically run across multiple blockchain ecosystems (e.g., Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche), each with different speeds, fees, and user experience patterns.

Businesses need infrastructure that can:

• Receive tokens across multiple networks

• Watch the chain for transaction confirmations

• Ensure payments arrive at the correct addresses

In the past, this required running your own nodes or stitching together multiple APIs. Today, platforms abstract much of that complexity into normal payment integrations.

Smart contracts add payment logic

Stablecoins are programmable and can handle more advanced flows. One example is recurring payments: requiring a customer to manually sign a transaction for each recurring payment would defeat the purpose so developers use smart contracts that hold a customer’s preapproved permission and pull funds on a schedule.

Custody provides security

If a business accepts or holds stablecoins directly, it needs secure custody: hardware wallets, multisignature setups, or a specialized custodian. A single compromised key can drain funds so businesses typically use layered controls. Payment providers handle key custody and fiat settlement to remove this burden.

Blockchain analytics assure compliance

Stablecoin payments still have to meet the same compliance standards as traditional payments. That means:

• Screening addresses for sanctions

• Monitoring for unusual patterns

• Verifying customers’ identities as needed

Many platforms integrate blockchain analytics tools directly into the payment flow so businesses don’t have to run their own risk programs.

How do stablecoin payments improve speed and cost efficiency?

Stablecoin payments simplify how money moves from payer to payee. There are fewer entities that charge fees and fewer handoffs that add delays. Here’s a closer look at the benefits.

Faster settlement

With traditional systems, cross-border payments move through a chain of correspondent banks, each with its own processing window. A wire transfer ends up hopping between several institutions, crossing multiple time zones, and sitting in overnight queues, which means it can take days to clear.

A stablecoin payment cuts out most of that: once a customer signs a transaction, it gets broadcast, validated, and added to a block in minutes (or seconds). This can happen anytime, even outside of banking hours.

This difference affects cash flow timing for freelancers, marketplaces, and global businesses. When funds settle quickly, everything else can move faster too, from supplier payment to releasing goods.

Lower costs

Traditional cross-border payments rack up fees, including:

• Wire transfer or remittance charges

• Interchange fees

• Cross-border surcharges

• Foreign exchange spreads

• Intermediary bank deductions

The all-inclusive cost averages above 6% for remittances, for example. People who send money home across borders lose over $50 billion a year to remittance fees.

Stablecoin transfers typically incur only a flat network fee, often pennies. For AI businesses on Stripe, stablecoin payments cost about half as much in transaction fees, compared with other payment methods.

What obstacles limit broader stablecoin payment adoption?

When businesses start relying on stablecoins, regulatory and user experience issues can appear. These bring some constraints. Here’s what to watch for.

Regulatory clarity

Many jurisdictions are still figuring out how to regulate stablecoins. In places without clear frameworks, it can be difficult to know how these payments fit into money transmitter rules, tax reporting, or consumer protection expectations. In the US, the GENIUS Act will reshape reserve requirements and issuer oversight when it goes into effect by 2027.

Compliance risk

Stablecoin payments still require businesses to screen transactions, verify customers, and vet funding sources. On the blockchain, identities are easily hidden. That means businesses need tools for address screening, transaction pattern monitoring, and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks when thresholds or regulations require them.

Fragmented networks

Stablecoins run on many blockchains. A business might support USDC on Ethereum, while a customer holds USDC only on Solana or Polygon. Sending tokens across incompatible networks can lead to lost funds. Until interoperability improves (or platforms abstract networks entirely), businesses must clarify which chains they support.

Regional off-ramp differences

Stablecoins excel at the cross-border “middle mile,” but the results can vary during the last mile into local currency. While some markets have strong liquidity and bank integrations, others don’t. Converting stablecoins to local money can add costs, delays, or risk in those regions.

How can businesses implement and manage stablecoin payments?

Stablecoin infrastructure is far more accessible than it was even two years ago. At this point, the question for many businesses isn’t whether they can handle the tech, but whether (and where) stablecoins improve money movement. Here’s how to decide.

Start with the real use case

Businesses get real value from stablecoins when they solve a specific problem: reducing international payment costs, speeding up payouts, or quickly moving funds. The use case should drive choices regarding networks, supported tokens, and depth of integration.

Choose an integration model that fits your team

Businesses that run full stablecoin stacks on their own need crypto-literate engineering, treasury, and compliance teams. Instead, many companies start with a provider that handles the difficult tasks associated with the blockchain. Stripe, for instance, lets businesses accept USDC across several networks and then settle in fiat.

Pick the stablecoins and networks your customers use

USDC is a common stablecoin entry point, but the network matters just as much. Fees and speeds vary widely among Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and others. Supporting multiple networks gives customers flexibility and minimizes misrouted payments, but it also requires good communication about what you do and don’t accept.

Manage custody, internal controls, and compliance with rigor

If you hold stablecoins directly, treat them like high-value treasury assets. Stablecoin flows also need proper accounting treatment, tax documentation, and KYC or sanctions screening when required. Custodial services are an option for teams that don’t want to run their own key infrastructure, and providers handle many compliance steps automatically.

Run a pilot in a controlled slice of the business

Companies often launch stablecoins in a specific region or use case. Early data helps refine network choices, customer instructions, and other details before scaling up.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payment solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world. Businesses can accept stablecoin payments from almost anywhere in the world that settle as fiat in their Stripe balances.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs and access to 125+ payment methods, including stablecoins and crypto.

• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.

• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.

• Improve payment performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.

• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.