In 2003, Skype launched its first killer feature - a low-cost calling service for landline phones from computers. But as more and more people joined the digital calling network, they eventually got rid of the phone completely and switched to Internet-based voice calls such as WhatsApp, thus achieving a smooth migration of the underlying technology from landline phones → mobile operators → Internet voice and data connections.
This phenomenon is seen as the "Skype moment" of the phone call.
The payment industry in the crypto space is also experiencing a similar moment. Over the past month, whether it is payment providers, exchanges or traditional banks in the crypto space, well-known global companies have entered the stablecoin business: USDC issuer Circle has submitted a listing application to the New York Stock Exchange; Coinbase has launched a stablecoin API payment standard, officially entering the field of autonomous payment; Visa and Mastercard have strengthened their support for stablecoins; Stripe has announced the launch of a series of features including stablecoin financial account balances, programmable stablecoins, and bank cards supported by stablecoins.
Some cutting-edge views believe that stablecoins will devour the payment industry.
The reason is that stablecoins have both the stability of legal tender and the flexibility of cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins act as cryptocurrencies with stable value anchored to legal tender in their native crypto fields. Compared with reserve currencies (BTC), security currencies (currencies issued by the RWA project), functional currencies (ETH), and meme coins, stablecoins are more likely to be widely used as payment currencies in various fields not limited to the crypto market.
Outside the on-chain world, stablecoins will also help more users interact directly with stablecoins by connecting to traditional systems, which is what established financial institutions such as Visa and Mastercard, Standard Chartered Bank, JD CoinChain Technology, and Ant International are doing. Traditional users still need to rely on established financial companies to build backward compatibility in existing products, and as more and more users and companies use stablecoins through existing products, stablecoins will have more opportunities to be used in new or better blockchain-based products - such as self-custody, shopping, remittances, DeFi staking scenarios, etc.
In the DePIN ecosystem where on-chain and off-chain converge, stablecoins not only build an efficient and low-friction financial infrastructure, but also greatly promote the user growth and market expansion of the DePIN project, promoting prosperity. Users can directly use stablecoins for transactions, settlements, exchanges and pledge operations, which lowers the entry threshold and improves capital liquidity and asset efficiency. At the same time, as a value intermediary, stablecoins connect the off-chain fiat currency world with the on-chain crypto asset ecosystem, providing a bridge for large-scale traditional users to flock to DePIN, further expanding the market size of DePIN.
Taking the decentralized cloud computing project as an example, we can imagine such a usage scenario: a game player uses stablecoins to purchase high-performance, low-fee computing resources on the DePIN cloud computing platform and enjoys playing immersive metaverse games. The AI computing power scheduling system automatically matches the optimal solution based on real-time network conditions and historical data, and settles in stablecoins to ensure dual optimization of cost and performance. Players can also exchange stablecoins for platform native tokens for staking or participating in governance, and can also NFT their idle computing power and circulate it on the chain to obtain platform contribution rewards. Ultimately, these rewards can be exchanged for stablecoins again for more life and transaction scenarios on and off the chain to achieve a closed value loop.
Summarize
Traditional payment companies including Visa and Mastercard, JD CoinChain Technology, and Ant International not only recognize the value of stablecoins, but are also building core infrastructure to provide "backward compatibility" capabilities for stablecoins, thereby accelerating their popularization.
On the surface, stablecoins are no different from the mobile payments we have used for decades, but the essence of the former is that payment companies are using stablecoins to launch a brand new on-chain economic system.
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May 7 and 8:
Stripe announced the "Stablecoin Financial Account" feature, which allows corporate users to hold account balances in stablecoins in 101 countries. Stripe can bypass the slow and expensive agency banking network, bypass the payment network, and compete directly with banks and card organizations. At the same time, USDB was launched, a programmable stablecoin that allows developers to embed digital dollars into their applications (and provide incentives for their behavior in building the USDB ecosystem). (Stripe | X)
May 7:
MoneyGram, the world’s leading offline payment network, announced the launch of MoneyGram Ramps, a programmable stablecoin on-and-off service that supports cash top-ups and withdrawals in more than 170 countries. MoneyGram has a global cash network, providing another way for stablecoins to interoperate with everyday spending.
(PRNewsWire)
Why it matters: Stablecoins have found product-market fit in emerging markets, with remittance demand driving early adoption. However, converting between stablecoins and physical cash remains difficult — and cash is still widely accepted as a backup payment method in most markets.
May 6:
Coinbase releases x402 - a new standard for Internet-native stablecoin payments, designed to enable atomic transactions between APIs, applications, and AI agents. The "x402" standard integrates stablecoin settlement, intent-driven payments, and compliance mechanisms into one protocol - which is unmatched by Visa and SWIFT in terms of speed, combination capabilities, and programmability. (Coinbase)
Visa cannot process payments of less than a cent. If agentic commerce—a model where autonomous software agents perform transactions on behalf of users—is to complete purchases and payments on behalf of humans, programmable money is needed. Companies such as Stripe and Visa are exploring how to build and dominate the autonomous payment layer. Stablecoins are ideal because they are built on a trusted and neutral decentralized platform. And decentralized protocols do not charge exploitative fees, so stablecoins may have the lowest payment costs in the long run.
May 6:
Visa and BVNK announce strategic partnership. (BVNK)
Visa's partnership with BVNK, a stablecoin payment infrastructure company, can be seen as a bet on the "stablecoin underlying architecture" - providing card organizations with direct access to payment rails that may bypass it. By working with BVNK, Visa can hedge Stripe's increasingly sophisticated stablecoin payment products to a certain extent.
Visa’s approach is commendable: other established payment companies are expected to follow suit, otherwise they will have to “rent infrastructure from stablecoin payment platforms or startups” in the future.
April 28 and 30:
Mastercard and Visa have launched a new product that allows users to use their stablecoin balances for daily purchases by swiping their cards. (Mastercard | Visa)
Mastercard announced a broader stablecoin integration partnership with Circle, OKX, Paxos, and multiple exchanges and wallet companies. These updates allow users to spend their bound stablecoin balances through Mastercard cards, while allowing merchants to settle fiat card payments directly into USDC. Two days later, Bridge, an investment by Visa and Stripe, announced that developers can issue Visa cards bound to stablecoins based on Bridge, and users can use stablecoin balances to pay in offline scenarios that support fiat currencies through the Visa network.
These products further promote the adoption of stablecoins by integrating with the systems that users already use every day. Cardholders can store and spend stablecoins directly without having to worry about whether the merchant accepts stablecoins for payment - just use the included Visa or Mastercard if it is not supported.
Stablecoins are bound to cards to make them "backward compatible" with existing infrastructure, but the "strong form" of the technology will eventually win out: in the future, merchants will no longer be willing to pay a 2.5% card swipe fee. By then, stablecoin payments will be available directly at POS terminals, helping merchants to obtain higher profit margins.
Subsequently, Stripe announced a partnership with financial operations platform Ramp to launch stablecoin-backed credit cards starting in Latin America, further expanding user usage scenarios.
April 23:
PayPal announced that starting in 2025, it will provide 3.7% returns on PYUSD stablecoins held by US users in PayPal or Venmo. (Paypal)
PayPal wants users’ deposits — even if those deposits originally came from MetaMask. By offering a 3.7% yield on PYUSD held in Venmo or PayPal, PayPal encourages users to buy and hold stablecoins long-term within the platform. But in fact, PayPal earns more when users keep PYUSD somewhere other than off-chain. Therefore, this yield plan is likely just the first step for PayPal to drive PYUSD trading volume and ecological integration.
April 21:
Circle announced the "Circle Payment Network", working with Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale, Santander, Standard Chartered and several stablecoin startups to improve cross-border payments. (Circle)
Circle is challenging SWIFT — the network that currently dominates international interbank transfers — and the network of correspondent banks it relies on, aiming to replace the latter's long-criticized messaging system and inefficient cross-border payment processes.
April 1st:
Circle submitted an application for listing to the New York Stock Exchange, further establishing the legal status of stablecoin payments. (SEC)
Circle’s S-1 filing process began in January and was submitted on April 1, further confirming the legitimacy and mainstream status of stablecoin payments, paving the way for wider user adoption and kicking off a month of intensive announcements from several of the world’s top fintech companies.
