Until recently, the process of moving money across borders had not changed much since the mid-20th century: it was slow, expensive, and packed with intermediaries and invisible fees. Today, however, the use of stablecoins means global payments can settle in minutes, not days, with less cost and more visibility.

Using stablecoins for real-world operations requires understanding the mechanics, limitations, and opportunities of building new payment systems. Below, we outline how stablecoin cross-border payments work, the risks and opportunities they present, and how to incorporate them into your business.

What’s in this article?

• What are stablecoin cross-border payments?
  
• What are the components of cross-border stablecoin transactions?
  
• What are the benefits of stablecoin payments?
  
• What barriers or risks do stablecoins have?
  
• How can organizations integrate stablecoins into their payments?
  
• How Stripe can help
  

What are stablecoin cross-border payments?

Stablecoin cross-border payments are international payments made using stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, often through a 1:1 peg to fiat currency such as the US dollar or euro. For example, 1 USDC is backed by $1 held in reserve.

Instead of using banks or wire networks, stablecoin payments move across public blockchains. That means a business can send value directly to a recipient’s digital wallet anytime, anywhere, with no bank intermediaries involved. The blockchain finalizes the transaction in seconds or minutes with full transparency.

If a US company wants to pay a designer in Belgium, it can send USDC. The designer gets paid in minutes instead of days, and can hold the tokens, spend them onchain, or convert the value to euros.

Stablecoin cross-border payments combine the reliability of fiat currencies with the speed and programmability of the internet. It’s a faster, cheaper, always-on alternative to traditional global money movement without changing the currency or introducing new volatility.

What are the components of cross-border stablecoin transactions?

The stablecoin ecosystem has matured fast. What started as a crypto-native experiment is now backed by regulated issuers and enterprise-grade platforms. Cross-border payments are a common use case for stablecoins, and the infrastructure can support it.

This process relies on these four components.

Blockchain platforms

The blockchain works as a global settlement layer that is built for interoperability. Stablecoins are available on many chains. The major ones include Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Polygon. Each comes with trade-offs in speed, cost, and tooling. Businesses can choose the network that fits their needs to move liquidity across chains.

Coin issuers

Token issuers determine how a stablecoin is created, redeemed, and collateralized.

Most stablecoin volume flows through two issuers:

• USDT (Tether): The most traded stablecoin globally, often used in emerging markets and high-volume corridors such as Asia.

• USDC (by Circle): Backed by cash and Treasuries, with strong regulatory ties and integrations into mainstream financial infrastructure.

Others include Pax Dollar (USDP), euro-pegged options such as EURC, and regional entrants such as EURCV from Société Générale. Selecting the right stablecoins for your purposes should include consideration of full fiat backing, transparent reserves, and redeemability.

Wallets and key management

This is where funds are actually held and transactions are initiated. Businesses can choose custodial wallets that handle security and recovery for them, or non-custodial setups where they control the keys directly. The model you select shapes how you manage access, automate payouts, and enforce audit controls.

Payments infrastructure

It’s best to work with payments infrastructure that can handle crypto on-ramps and off-ramps (converting between fiat and stablecoins), as well as Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) touchpoints.

Big players are getting involved in enabling stablecoin transactions:

• Visa and Mastercard are running stablecoin settlement tests.

• Platforms such as Stripe let businesses send and receive USDC without needing to touch crypto directly.

• Fintechs are integrating stablecoin application programming interfaces (APIs) for global payroll, vendor payments, and remittances.

What are the benefits of stablecoin payments?

Global payments still cost more and move more slowly than they should. Stablecoins can increase the speed of payments, free up capital, reduce risk, and lower the cost per transaction.

Here’s a detailed look at the benefits of stablecoin payments.

Lower costs

Stablecoin transfers typically cost a few cents in network fees, depending on the blockchain. That’s a sharp contrast to traditional cross-border payments, where the average cost of remittance fees (such as bank fees, foreign exchange markups, and intermediaries) is nearly 6.5% per transaction. Stablecoins can make high flow volumes or smaller payments economically viable.

Better exchange dynamics

Stablecoins let you hold and send value in a stable currency without dealing with double conversions or opaque foreign exchange (FX) spreads. Stablecoins let recipients bypass currency volatility and access more liquid markets in areas where dollars are preferred but hard to access. You can also choose stablecoins pegged to the euro, pound sterling, or other fiat.

Faster access to funds

Blockchain ecosystems don’t close: there are no cutoff times or holidays. Faster settlement improves cash flow. Both sender and receiver know exactly when funds arrive and can act immediately. This reduces the need for prefunding accounts, cushions for delay, or short-term credit. Once a stablecoin transfer is confirmed by the network, it’s done.

More efficient capital

Holding stablecoins instead of waiting on pending transfers keeps working capital available. Businesses can hasten treasury operations by sending funds just in time, rather than holding capital in limbo across regions. That can mean reducing or even eliminating the need to prefund local accounts for marketplaces or global platforms.

Transparent, auditable flows

Every stablecoin transfer is recorded onchain. That gives both parties a real-time, shared source of truth and simplifies reconciliation. You can verify when money left and when it arrived, right down to the second.

What barriers or risks do stablecoins have?

Stablecoins make moving money easier, but the rules for using them aren’t always simple. Global regulations are evolving fast, so you’ll need to continue learning the limits and how to operate within them.

Companies that are considering using stablecoins should be aware of these points.

Licensing and regulation vary

The US GENIUS Act requires stablecoin issuers to be fully regulated entities, just like banks or insured depositories, with strict reserve and redemption standards. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) applies similar oversight in the European Union: full asset backing, periodic audits, and public disclosures are required. Some countries are following those leads, while others restrict or ban stablecoin use entirely. China, for example, prohibits crypto-based payments. Other countries, such as Nigeria, enforce capital controls that could affect stablecoin off-ramps.

Local currency rules matter

Certain types of payments, such as payroll or taxes, must be made in local currency in some jurisdictions. Some local laws require conversion from stablecoins, and with it, corresponding reporting and tax filings.

KYC and AML still apply

Businesses need to know who they’re paying and screen transactions for sanctions or illicit activity. Crypto payments must comply with the Travel Rule in many jurisdictions, which means information about the sender and recipient must accompany the transaction. Whether you're working with a provider or handling custody in-house, a clear KYC/AML program is essential.

There’s no room for error

Blockchain transactions are final. If funds are sent to the wrong address or a counterparty disappears, there’s no way to get that money back. Your stablecoin program needs to include confirmations, test transfers, and multisignature approvals. Holding stablecoin balances also carries risk: if the issuer fails or the wallet is compromised, there’s often no regulatory backstop.

How can organizations integrate stablecoins into their payments?

If stablecoins are going to be part of your global payment stack, they need to work with your existing infrastructure. This means coordinating the right tools, partners, and controls so stablecoin flows operate as predictably as wire transfers or card payments.

Here’s how the process works.

Start with a specific use case

Pick one specific flow to test: paying international vendors, sending marketplace payouts, or moving funds between regional entities. Focus on where stablecoins offer clear advantages, such as fewer fees, faster delivery, or better liquidity.

Choose your stablecoins

Look for tokens issued by licensed entities with full fiat backing and transparent reserves. USDC and USDT are the most widely used, but geography, network availability, and partner compatibility will shape the right choice for your business case.

Decide how you want to hold funds

You can keep stablecoins yourself (with proper key management and multisignature approval), or work through a payments provider or custodian. Some platforms, including Stripe, let you send or receive stablecoins while staying entirely in fiat behind the scenes.

Build it into existing workflows

Integrate with your enterprise resource planning (ERP), payroll, or treasury software. Use APIs or dashboards that support transaction tracking, batch payments, and fiat conversions. Treat stablecoin flows as part of core operations as you scale.

Tighten controls

Because onchain payments settle fast and can’t be reversed, solidify approvals, automate address validation, and run test transfers. Include accounting, legal, and compliance from the start.

How Stripe can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payments 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 balance.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, 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 payments 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% uptime and industry-leading reliability.

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