Author: Aaron Stanley
Compiled by: Jiahuan, ChainCatcher
The stablecoin cross-border payments industry is experiencing rapid growth.
Earlier this month, hundreds of companies gathered in Mexico City for the Bitso Business Stablecoin Summit. Ask anyone present, and you'll get the same answer: the technology is mature and usable, the regulatory environment is improving, and transaction volumes are climbing.
But spend some time talking to those actually moving money across borders, and a more nuanced picture emerges: stablecoin-based cross-border payments are faster, more accessible, and increasingly reliable. But on price, the industry has yet to deliver on its promise.
Where's the gap? Foreign exchange brokers typically charge 60 to 70 basis points for cross-border supplier payments. Stablecoins promise to compress that cost to 2 to 5 basis points. The direction is clear.
It's just that the deep liquidity pools needed to make this cost compression a reality have not yet been built at scale.
Imran Ahmad, head of Bitso Business, the B2B arm of one of Latin America's largest crypto exchanges, put it bluntly: Until institutional liquidity floods into these corridors, the cost advantage of stablecoins remains theoretical.
Once banks start connecting directly, pricing will be driven down and the equation will change.
"They're faster? Absolutely. They're better? Absolutely. They operate 24/7? Absolutely. But are they cheaper? Not yet," Ahmad explained in an interview on the sidelines of the summit. "Liquidity pools need to be built first."
Addressing the Trust Problem
Getting that liquidity online requires a change in behavior.
Consider a medium-sized importer located in Santos, Brazil (Latin America's largest port), who has used the same local forex broker to handle payments for years.
That broker charges 60 to 70 basis points. In theory, a stablecoin solution could accomplish the same payment for a fraction of that cost.
But the importer may not measure the transaction in basis points. What comes to mind is that reliable agent who has handled their forex for a decade: the person who always answers the phone and always gets things done.
It's this relationship, built on trust, that is the real barrier to stablecoin adoption in B2B payments. It will only erode slowly: when the price gap becomes too large to ignore, and as a new generation of practitioners no longer takes personal relationships for granted.
"Everything ultimately boils down to trust," said Ezra Kebrab, CEO of Caliza, a cross-border payments company handling supplier payments and treasury transactions between Latin America, North America, and Asia.
"It's not just, 'I'm the cheapest, fastest solution,'" Kebrab added. "Do you understand what's at stake if this payment doesn't meet the counterparty's requirements?"
Complementing Swift, Not Replacing It
Contrary to some rhetoric in the stablecoin payments space, the companies gaining real market traction are precisely those that have stopped treating existing infrastructure as the enemy.
Caliza's clients range from customs brokers in Santos to global payment processors like Flutterwave and India's Skydo; the company also works with payment partner LianLian for Latin America-to-China flows.
Despite running on stablecoin rails, Caliza still executes many transactions via Swift. The reason: In supplier payments, paying correctly is just as important as paying quickly. A wire with a wrong tax ID or missing payment field can hold goods indefinitely at customs.
"Some of my peers might call themselves 'Swift killers,'" Kebrab said. "But I think Swift has done a phenomenal job in establishing the standardization required for supplier payments."
This willingness to walk alongside, not against, traditional systems has translated into sustained growth. Since its inception, Caliza has consistently seen month-over-month growth exceeding 40%, reaching 60% last month.
To avoid reliance on intermediaries, the company built its licensing and banking relationships from scratch. A decision that seemed costly early on now looks increasingly like a competitive advantage.
Bitso's Ahmad believes the growth trajectory of stablecoin companies operating in these cross-border corridors over the past year has been phenomenal; but given the structure of the business and its highly regulated nature, he expects natural attrition to eventually arrive.
"The growth trajectories of these companies have been fascinating to watch," he said. "There hasn't been a 'graveyard' of stablecoin companies yet. But I think it's coming."
In his view, who ultimately stands firm depends on three things: licensing, fiat on/off ramps, and liquidity. Build those three, and you have a real business. "Otherwise, you're just a middleman."
