Payment and Stablecoins: An Ongoing Upgrade of Financial Infrastructure

Last month at the Davos Forum, Binance founder CZ shared a crucial judgment: digital assets are no longer just trading tools; they are becoming part of the global payment system. At the same time, he emphasized one point: **what truly enables this to happen is not just technology, but the combination of **technology + compliance. In other words, having on-chain innovation alone is not enough; it must also integrate into the real-world financial system.

This judgment actually points to the most core change in the current fintech industry: we are undergoing a reconstruction of payment infrastructure.

From industry practice, this trend is already very evident. Many innovative fintech companies, such as Interlace, are not just creating another wallet or issuing another coin; they are bridging the gap between on-chain assets and traditional payment networks, allowing digital assets to be used compliantly and smoothly in the real world.

The old payment system hasn't disappeared, but it is starting to connect with the new world

The traditional payment system is actually very mature: card networks, clearing systems, and banking systems have been operating for decades, stable and efficient. But the problem is that it was designed for traditional business models.

As transactions become globalized, digitized, and platform-based, some issues have become increasingly apparent:

• Cross-border payment processes are long, costly, and slow to settle.

• There is significant loss in currency conversion between multiple currencies.

• There is insufficient support for digital assets and new business models (such as Web3 and the digital content economy).

At this point, stablecoins and on-chain payments are beginning to show different possibilities. Artemis data shows: by 2025, the total transaction volume of global stablecoins will soar to approximately $33 trillion, a year-on-year increase of about 72%. This far exceeds the growth rate of traditional cross-border payment transaction volumes, clearly demonstrating the market's strong demand for efficient, programmable, low-cost payment methods.

At the same time, compliance has also become an unavoidable aspect. From KYC and AML to payment license regulations, various rules are continuously being refined. On one hand, they delineate industry boundaries; on the other hand, they are pushing the industry toward a longer-term, sustainable development path.

Three scenarios where stablecoins truly have the opportunity to explode

If we look at stablecoins beyond the crypto circle, their value mainly concentrates in three real-world scenarios.

1. Cross-border payments: naturally suitable for borderless money

Cross-border payments have always been the most complex area in traditional finance. There are many intermediaries, high exchange rate losses, and long settlement times. Stablecoins, because they are pegged to fiat currencies and can be transferred quickly on-chain, can naturally bypass many intermediary clearing steps, allowing funds to flow more smoothly between different countries. For cross-border e-commerce, overseas services, and small trade enterprises, this is not a "technology upgrade," but a direct way to save money and time.

2. Web3 and digital scenario payments: volatile coins are not suitable as everyday currency

In scenarios like NFTs, blockchain games, and the content creator economy, people are already accustomed to on-chain assets. However, using highly volatile tokens for everyday payments does not provide a good experience. The role of stablecoins here is more like the cash layer in the digital world: suitable for high-frequency, small-amount, instant settlements, allowing on-chain business models to run smoothly without being interrupted by price fluctuations.

3. Enterprise-level payments and fund management: programmable money starts to find its place

More and more enterprises no longer just need a bank account; they need: a multi-account system, automated settlements, programmable payment rules, and unified fund dispatch capabilities on a global scale. The combinability of stablecoins and on-chain payments allows enterprises to modularize accounts, settlements, and authorizations, which is particularly attractive for platform companies and globally operating enterprises.

Challenges to implementation: stablecoins must overcome three hurdles to enter reality

Despite their great potential, the large-scale implementation of stablecoin payments still faces real challenges.

The first hurdle is the gap in scenarios. Many users hold stablecoins, but most offline and mainstream online merchants cannot directly accept them, and there remains a gap between on-chain assets and real-world consumption scenarios.

The second hurdle is the high complexity of compliance. Cross-border business often involves multiple jurisdictions, and different regions have significantly different regulatory attitudes toward stablecoins. From licensing to KYC/AML coordination, companies need to invest substantial resources in compliance and risk control, which is especially challenging for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The third hurdle is the lengthy technical chain. Wallets, payment gateways, risk control systems, clearing and settlement networks, issuing institutions… The stablecoin payment system relies on a complete set of financial infrastructure coordination, which cannot be easily bridged by a single company.

A practical solution: integrating stablecoins into existing payment networks

From current industry practices, the model of combining crypto cards with compliant payment networks remains representative. Crypto cards serve as a bridge connecting crypto assets and fiat currencies, and their operational principle can be understood through a "sandwich structure":

• The upper and lower layers are still the fiat currency system and existing payment networks.

• Stablecoins are in the middle, taking on the role of value transfer and clearing.

• Users and merchants do not necessarily need to directly perceive the existence of stablecoins.

Taking Interlace's practice as an example, its crypto card product, Infinity Card, more accurately serves as the expenditure layer within the enterprise's fund system. By directly connecting the enterprise's multi-currency accounts and asset balances, it completes the conversion and clearing of crypto assets and fiat currencies in the background, allowing enterprise funds to be seamlessly used for global consumption scenarios without changing the original account structure and settlement logic.

The benefits of this structure are:

• It allows assets in digital wallets to be used as sources of expenditure, with the system automatically completing exchanges and processing during consumption.

• It directly connects to existing global card organization networks for use by online and offline merchants.

• It embeds KYC/KYT and risk control capabilities into the card issuance and payment processes.

• It supports compliance connections across multiple regions, reducing the difficulty for enterprises to apply for licenses and build systems themselves.

In other words, it is not about how to do on-chain payments, but how to allow on-chain money to compliantly enter the real-world payment system. Currently, the specific application scenarios for stablecoin payments have gradually been implemented, covering three core entities: consumers, enterprises, and cross-border settlements.

• On the consumer side, users can use stablecoins in their wallets to complete daily online and offline purchases, breaking the limitations of on-chain asset usage and enjoying instant settlement and low-fee payment experiences.
• On the enterprise side, they can manage global cash flows more flexibly, providing stablecoin payments for employees or partners, improving settlement efficiency.
• On the cross-border settlement side, multi-currency clearing capabilities can simplify traditional bank clearing processes, reduce exchange rate losses and fees, and shorten settlement cycles, especially catering to the cross-border trade needs of small and micro enterprises. These practices clearly demonstrate the innovative paths fintech companies are taking in payment implementation and asset management.

The real upgrade is the advancement of technology and compliance together

Looking ahead to the next few years, stablecoins will bring structural upgrades to the payment industry, with three trends becoming increasingly clear:

First, the regulatory framework will gradually become clearer.
Stablecoins will not remain in a gray area indefinitely; regulations will gradually clarify the rules. For companies that genuinely want to do business in the long term, this is a positive development rather than a negative one.

Second, digital payments will be more deeply embedded in the traditional financial system.
It is not about replacement, but integration. Stablecoin payments will become a standard module within enterprise financial systems.

Third, modular financial infrastructure will become mainstream.
Issuing, risk control, clearing and settlement, and compliance capabilities will be called upon in the form of APIs and service modules, rather than every company building a complete system from scratch.

The changes brought about by stablecoins are not just about adding another type of on-chain currency; they touch the very structure of the payment system at its core. However, the industry has gradually realized: technology that is divorced from compliance cannot go far, and compliance that is divorced from technology lacks efficiency.

Only when technological capabilities, compliance frameworks, and real payment scenarios are truly connected will stablecoins transition from being part of the infrastructure of the crypto world to becoming part of the global financial system.