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Stablecoin Payment Ecosystem Overview: A Deep Dive from Technology to Application
Panorama Analysis of the Stablecoin Payment Ecosystem
The global financial system is undergoing profound changes. Traditional payment networks are facing a comprehensive challenge from stablecoins due to outdated infrastructure, lengthy settlement cycles, and high costs. Stablecoins are rapidly changing the patterns of value cross-border flow, the paradigms of corporate transactions, and the ways individuals access financial services.
In recent years, stablecoins have continued to develop and have become an important underlying infrastructure for global payments. Large fintech companies, payment processors, and sovereign entities are gradually integrating stablecoins into consumer-facing applications and enterprise cash flows. Emerging financial tools such as payment gateways, deposit and withdrawal channels, and programmable yield products have greatly enhanced the convenience of using stablecoins.
This report analyzes the stablecoin ecosystem from both technical and commercial perspectives. It studies the key players shaping this field, the core infrastructure supporting stablecoin transactions, and the dynamic demand driving its applications. Additionally, it explores how stablecoins are giving rise to new financial application scenarios and the challenges they face in being widely integrated into the global economic process.
1. Why choose stablecoin payments?
To explore the influence of stablecoins, it is essential to first examine traditional payment solutions. These traditional systems include cash, checks, debit cards, credit cards, international wire transfers (SWIFT), automated clearing houses (ACH), and peer-to-peer payments. Although they have integrated into daily life, many payment channels, such as the ACH and SWIFT infrastructure, have existed since the 1970s. While they were pioneering at the time, most of these global payment infrastructures are now outdated and highly fragmented. Overall, these payment methods are plagued by high costs, high friction, long processing times, inability to achieve round-the-clock settlement, and complex backend processes. Furthermore, they often require payment for bundled services that are unnecessary, such as identity verification, lending, compliance, fraud protection, and bank integration.
Stablecoin payments are effectively addressing these pain points. Compared to traditional payment methods, using blockchain for payment settlement greatly simplifies the payment process, reduces intermediaries, and achieves real-time visibility of fund flows, not only shortening settlement times but also lowering costs.
The main advantages of stablecoin payments can be summarized as follows:
2. The Landscape of the Stablecoin Payment Industry
The stablecoin payment industry can be divided into four technical stack levels:
1. First Layer: Application Layer
The application layer is mainly composed of various payment service providers (PSP), which integrate multiple independent deposit and withdrawal payment institutions into a unified aggregation platform. These platforms provide users with convenient access to stablecoins, offer tools for developers developing at the application layer, and provide credit card services for Web3 users.
a. Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is a service that facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers by securely processing payments.
Notable companies innovating in this field include:
The domain of payment gateway providers can be clearly divided into two categories (with some overlap).
The developer-oriented payment gateway is designed to serve businesses, fintech companies, and enterprises that need to embed stablecoin infrastructure into their workflows. They typically provide application programming interfaces (APIs), software development kits (SDKs), and developer tools for integration into existing payment systems, enabling features such as automated payments, stablecoin wallets, virtual accounts, and real-time settlement. Some emerging projects focused on providing such developer tools include:
Consumer-focused payment gateways prioritize the user, providing an easy-to-use interface that facilitates stablecoin payments, remittances, and financial services. They typically include mobile wallets, multi-currency support, fiat deposit and withdrawal channels, and seamless cross-border transactions. Some well-known projects that focus on providing users with this simple payment experience include:
b. U Card
Cryptocurrency cards are payment cards that allow users to spend cryptocurrency or stablecoins at traditional merchants. These cards are typically integrated with traditional credit card networks, enabling seamless transactions by automatically converting cryptocurrency assets to fiat currency at the point of sale.
The project includes:
There are many cryptocurrency card providers, and they mainly differ in the areas they serve and the currencies they support. Typically, they offer low-fee services to end users in order to enhance the enthusiasm for using cryptocurrency cards.
2. Second Layer: Payment Processor
As a key layer in the stablecoin technology stack, payment processors are the backbone of payment channels, primarily covering two types: 1. Deposit and withdrawal service providers 2. Stablecoin issuance service providers. They act as a crucial intermediary layer in the payment lifecycle, connecting Web3 payments with traditional financial systems.
a. Deposit and Withdrawal Processor
b. Stablecoin Issuance & Coordination of Processors
3. Layer Three: Asset Issuer
Asset issuers are responsible for creating, maintaining, and redeeming stablecoins. Their business model typically centers around the balance sheet, similar to bank operations - accepting customer deposits and investing the funds in high-yield assets like U.S. Treasuries to earn a spread. At the asset issuer level, stablecoin innovations can be divided into three tiers: