Cross-border payment flows still generally rely on infrastructure that hasn’t kept pace with modern businesses. A “fast” transfer in many corridors can still take days and incur fees that aren’t clear until after the fact. In nearly a quarter of corridors, fees for cross-border payments can exceed 3% of transaction value.

The so-called “stablecoin sundae” offers a faster route for international payments. Instead of converting fiat into a single stablecoin pegged to the US dollar (USD) and then converting back to fiat, the sundae uses two local currency stablecoins to handle the foreign exchange (FX) step onchain. The round-trip is shorter, the pricing is clearer, and settlement often happens in minutes.

Below, we’ll explore how the stablecoin sundae method works and how organizations are using it to improve cross-border and high-volume money movement.

What’s in this article?

• What is the stablecoin sundae framework?
  
• How does a stablecoin sundae work?
  
• What are the benefits of the stablecoin sundae framework?
  
• What challenges can limit stablecoin sundae use?
  
• What can the stablecoin sundae model do for businesses?
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

What is the stablecoin sundae framework?

The stablecoin sundae is a model for cross-border payments that acts as a structural upgrade to a framework known as the “stablecoin sandwich” commonly used in crypto payments. In the stablecoin sandwich, you convert fiat into a stablecoin, move it across a blockchain ecosystem, and convert it into local fiat on the other side. It’s faster and cheaper than wire transfers, but it can still incur FX fees.

The sundae adds a second stablecoin to the middle of the flow, so a payment goes from the local fiat to the local stablecoin to the foreign stablecoin and finally to the foreign fiat. Instead of paying for conversions on both sides, the only FX cost is the onchain swap. And because issuers and exchanges are available around the clock, the entire process can clear in minutes rather than days without having to prefund foreign accounts or route through legacy networks.

What makes this model relevant now is the scale of onchain activity. Stablecoin usage is growing, and in some emerging markets, stablecoin transactions are becoming both a spending tool and a hedge against inflation and unstable local currency.

How does a stablecoin sundae work?

It helps to walk through the stablecoin sundae framework one layer at a time to understand how it works.

Here are the three core steps.

1. Fiat to local stablecoin

Let’s say a business in Brazil wants to pay a contractor in the European Union (EU). The payer deposits Brazilian reais (BRL) with a BRL-backed stablecoin issuer and receives an equal amount of BRL stablecoins.

2. Onchain stablecoin swap

Next, the business swaps BRL stablecoins for euro-pegged stablecoins on a blockchain-based exchange. This is the only step where foreign exchange happens, and it happens in the open via smart contracts, at market rates, in real time.

3. Foreign stablecoin to fiat

Then, the euro stablecoins are redeemed 1:1 with a stablecoin issuer. The receiver gets euros straight from the reserve that backs the token.

What are the benefits of the stablecoin sundae framework?

The stablecoin sundae method lets money move as fast as data, at a lower cost than traditional networks and with availability at all times.

These are the primary benefits.

Speed

Once the local stablecoin is minted, everything else moves in near real time, without waiting for cutoff windows or multiday bank processes. The swap between currencies, the transfer across chains, and the redemption into destination fiat can clear in minutes. The payment can land while the confirmation email is still being written.

Cost

Much of the cost in traditional cross-border payments comes from FX markups and intermediaries. The sundae removes those factors: fiat gets converted to stablecoin and back at a 1:1 rate. The only actual currency exchange happens between stablecoins onchain, where spreads are usually tighter than retail FX. Those savings can add up for businesses operating at scale.

Functionality

Even though the flow runs on crypto blockchains, teams don’t have to manage wallets or learn new systems. The whole create-swap-redeem sequence can be abstracted behind an application programming interface (API), but every step is traceable. Payments become easier to reconcile, easier to monitor, and easier to time. Users know where the money is, what it costs to move, and when it’ll land.

What challenges can limit stablecoin sundae use?

The stablecoin sundae can transform the way businesses conduct cross-border payments, but a few constraints still shape where and how it works.

Here are the primary challenges.

Liquidity gaps

While USD-backed stablecoins are widespread, most other currencies don’t have the same depth. Local stablecoins tied to pesos, reais, rupees, and euros are growing, but many remain thinly traded. That makes some corridor swaps less efficient or more expensive, especially for high-volume transfers where market depth matters. Coverage will be uneven until broader adoption builds.

Regulatory uncertainty

Not every country treats stablecoins the same. Some welcome them under clear rules; others ban or restrict usage. That patchwork creates compliance issues, especially when touching multiple jurisdictions. Teams need to track and comply with local regulations, licensing, and banking rules.

Issuer risk

The stablecoin sundae model depends on stablecoins holding their peg and issuers honoring redemptions. That means reserves have to be transparent, liquid, and well-managed. If a local issuer has weak oversight or poor collateral, the whole flow gets fragile. Not all stablecoins are created equal.

Tech overhead

Even with a service provider, wallets, token transfers, and onchain infrastructure are still part of the process. That introduces questions around crypto custody, error handling, and internal accounting. It’s a shift for companies used to working with wire transfers and banks, and teams need to be prepared to manage that difference.

What can the stablecoin sundae model do for businesses?

The sundae approach can help make money movement better and faster for the teams managing it day to day.

These are the advantages for businesses.

No more prefunding foreign accounts

With traditional payment networks, making payouts into another country often means holding balances there in advance. That locks up capital, increases exposure to local banking risk, and adds reconciliation overhead. With the sundae model, a business only sends what it needs, when it needs it.

Fewer intermediaries to manage

Legacy flows hop between multiple correspondent banks—each a potential delay point. The sundae model simplifies that to two issuers and an onchain swap. Fewer handoffs means fewer errors, fewer fees, and faster delivery.

Better visibility, easier reconciliation

Every step (i.e., minting, swapping, redeeming) is traceable. That means no more chasing status across providers or waiting for confirmations from multiple banks. A business can track payments in real time, close books faster, and move with more confidence. Onchain swaps are all-or-nothing: either both sides execute, or nothing does. That removes the risk of partial clears or that one currency gets delayed.

How Stripe Payments 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% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.

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