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What About Stablecoins? Stablecoins are leaving the whiteboard
In the markets of the future, the next big shift in payments may not come from a new way to pay. It may come from changing what happens to money before it gets there.
Stablecoins are moving beyond crypto-native circles and into everyday business questions: how to settle faster, access dollars, fund digital services and move money across markets where traditional options can be limited or expensive.
For Hamish Johnston, Crypto Vertical Lead at dLocal, the signal is clear: “The demand isn’t speculative.” It’s merchants looking for dollar-denominated settlement, businesses managing foreign exchange exposure, and cross-border payments that need to move faster than traditional banking allows.
A dollar, without the usual detour
Take USDC, a stablecoin designed to maintain a one-to-one value with the US dollar. For businesses, that dollar reference can offer a useful alternative in markets where local currencies are volatile or access to dollars is constrained.
And the possibilities go beyond holding value. Businesses can use stablecoins already in their digital wallets to fund services without needing a bank account or card for that payment flow. Depending on the provider and market, funds can be available in minutes, making it easier to pay from different geographies without navigating the same traditional payment steps.
The attraction is simple: more choice over how money moves, fewer barriers to accessing digital services, and greater flexibility across borders.
The future is connected, not replaced
Emerging markets are already home to different ways of moving money. Pix in Brazil, UPI in India, digital wallets across Southeast Asia and mobile money across parts of Africa show that there is no single model for digital payments.
Stablecoins add another possibility: a digital dollar that can move across compatible networks and connect with local payment systems. They are not a replacement for every bank transfer or wallet. Their potential lies in helping different systems work together.
That may be why the technology’s biggest impact could eventually become less visible. Hamish puts it this way: in the next three to five years, stablecoins may no longer be part of the conversation. They’ll simply be “part of the plumbing.”
Like infrastructure shifts before them, stablecoins could change the foundations of how money moves without requiring businesses to rethink every part of how they operate.
Success case
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Making borders less of a barrier
Félix Pago, a U.S.-based chat service that lets people send remittances through WhatsApp, uses USDC to fund transfers from the U.S. to Latin America. With our payment infrastructure connecting digital dollars to local bank payouts, money that could previously take until the next day reached recipients in minutes. In testing, transfers typically arrived in under two minutes, with a success rate close to 99%.
The money moves differently behind the scenes. For recipients, it arrives in the currency they use, directly in their bank accounts.
<2mintypical transfer time in testing
99%success rate
The value is in the movement
Over the next few years, stablecoins are likely to become a more established part of cross-border payments and treasury operations. Their role may become less visible as they work alongside existing payment rails, supporting transactions where they offer a practical advantage.
As Hamish Johnston puts it, stablecoins will increasingly become “one rail among several rails within a cross-border payment and treasury stack,” prominent only where they solve a real problem.
Where that happens will depend on the market. Currency volatility, access to banking, local payment options and regulation will all shape their adoption. And as AI and digital commerce accelerate, businesses will need financial infrastructure that can keep pace with increasingly connected and automated activity.
Stablecoins won’t solve every payment challenge, nor do they need to replace the systems already in place. Their significance may lie in making specific parts of moving money faster, more flexible and less constrained by geography.
The real shift won’t be how often we talk about stablecoins. It will be how much easier they make it to do business across markets.
