Stablecoin payments are reshaping global fund flows. What are Visa, Stripe, and PayPal competing for?

In the past few years, stablecoins have been regarded as one of the most important infrastructures in the crypto market. Whether it is the flow of funds on exchanges, on-chain transaction settlements, or the operation of the DeFi ecosystem, USDT and USDC have played the role of digital dollars. However, after 2025 to 2026, the market’s focus on stablecoins is undergoing a significant shift. Increasing discussions are no longer centered around crypto trading itself but are now focusing on a bigger question: Are stablecoins becoming a key component of the next-generation global payment network?

This change is not driven by the crypto industry itself but by collective actions from traditional finance and payment giants. Over the past year, Visa has continuously expanded its stablecoin settlement capabilities, Stripe has made a major bet on stablecoin infrastructure through its acquisition of Bridge, and PayPal has been steadily expanding the application of PYUSD in global payment scenarios. Meanwhile, Mastercard, MoneyGram, and an increasing number of banking institutions are also entering the stablecoin payment race.

For the market, this means that stablecoin payments are gradually evolving from a “new application in the crypto industry” to a “new competition in the global payment system.” When traditional payment giants start to deploy around stablecoins, they are not just competing over payment services but are vying for a crucial entry point into the future global fund flow network.

Why Stablecoin Payments Are the New Most-Watched Track in the Global Payment Industry

Looking back at the hot topics in the crypto industry over the past few years, most narratives revolved around asset prices and investment opportunities. From NFTs to AI, from Layer2 to RWA, each wave of hot topics attracted market attention. But there are only a few applications that can sustainably create real demand, and payments are precisely one of them.

The uniqueness of payments lies in the fact that they do not depend on market sentiment. Whether the market is in a bull or bear phase, the demand for enterprise settlements, international trade, cross-border remittances, and personal transfers always exists. Therefore, when stablecoins begin to enter the payment field, they face a global industry scale far beyond that of crypto trading markets.

According to stablecoin industry research data published by Stripe in 2026, the on-chain transfer volume of stablecoins in 2024 reached approximately $27.6 trillion, surpassing the total annual payment transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard combined. While this figure still includes transaction activities and on-chain fund flows, it is enough to demonstrate that stablecoins have already formed a vast value transfer network.

More noteworthy is the development of actual payment scenarios. According to a joint research report by BCG and Allium, in 2025, the scale of stablecoin payments in real economic activities reached approximately $350 billion to $550 billion, with a year-over-year growth of about 60%. Among these, B2B settlements have become one of the fastest-growing areas. This indicates that stablecoins are gradually moving from internal crypto tools into real commercial activities.

For the payment industry, the biggest attraction of stablecoins is not technological innovation but efficiency improvement. Traditional cross-border payments often require multiple intermediaries, with funds taking days to arrive and high fees involved. Stablecoin networks can achieve near real-time settlement and significantly reduce intermediary costs. When this efficiency advantage begins to manifest in real commercial scenarios, traditional payment institutions cannot ignore it.

Visa Is Upgrading from a Payment Network to a Stablecoin Settlement Network

Among all traditional payment giants, Visa’s actions are perhaps the most representative.

Over the past decades, Visa has built one of the largest global card payment networks, with a business model essentially connecting banks, merchants, and consumers. However, with the development of blockchain technology, Visa has begun to realize that future payment network competition may not only occur between card networks but also between digital currency networks.

As early as 2023, Visa started exploring USDC settlement systems. By 2025, this strategy had clearly accelerated. In December 2025, Visa announced expanding its stablecoin settlement coverage and promoting more financial institutions to access the USDC settlement network. According to publicly disclosed data, Visa’s stablecoin settlement volume had reached an annualized scale of about $3.5 billion.

By January 2026, Cuy Sheffield, head of Visa’s crypto business, stated in an interview that Visa’s stablecoin settlement volume had grown to approximately $4.5 billion annually and was still expanding.

On the surface, this might seem like just adding a new settlement method. But from a deeper perspective, Visa is attempting a transformation of identity. Historically, Visa mainly handled payment information transfer, but in the future, Visa aims to become the connective layer between the banking system and the stablecoin network. As more banks begin to explore digital dollar settlements, Visa wants to maintain its core position in the payment network rather than be replaced by new blockchain infrastructure.

Therefore, Visa’s competition is not about stablecoins themselves but about securing the future digital payment era’s settlement entry point.

Why Stripe Is Betting on Stablecoin Infrastructure

Compared to Visa’s gradual transformation, Stripe’s strategy is more aggressive. Many may have forgotten that Stripe was one of the earliest large payment platforms to support Bitcoin payments. But due to the high volatility of early cryptocurrencies and limited payment experience, Stripe later paused related services. However, as the stablecoin market matures, this global fintech giant has returned to the crypto payment track.

The event that truly changed industry expectations occurred in October 2024. Stripe announced the acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for about $1.1 billion. This not only became one of the largest M&A deals in the crypto payment field in recent years but also sent a clear signal: Stripe believes stablecoins have entered the stage of commercialization.

If Visa’s focus is on the payment network, Stripe’s focus is on underlying infrastructure.

Bridge’s core business is not issuing stablecoins but helping enterprises access stablecoin payment, settlement, and fund management systems. Through acquiring Bridge, Stripe has gained an important entry point into the stablecoin financial infrastructure market.

In February 2026, Bridge further received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish the National Trust Bank. Once fully approved, Bridge will be able to provide stablecoin custody, reserve management, and related financial services.

The significance of this event lies in that Stripe is no longer content with being a payment interface provider but is beginning to transform into a stablecoin financial infrastructure operator. For Stripe, the biggest opportunity in the future is not just processing payment orders but mastering the financial services behind the stablecoin network.

PayPal Aims to Bring Stablecoins into Global Consumer Scenarios

If Visa represents traditional payment networks and Stripe represents fintech platforms, then PayPal stands for the consumer payment market.

When PYUSD was launched in 2023, many saw it as a branding effort. But the development over the past two years shows that PayPal’s commitment to stablecoins is much firmer than the market expected.

In April 2025, PayPal announced an expanded partnership with Coinbase to jointly promote PYUSD in on-chain finance and payment scenarios. Then, in June 2025, PayPal further announced plans to extend PYUSD to the Stellar network, aiming to leverage Stellar’s advantages in cross-border payments to expand more use cases.

A truly symbolic event occurred in March 2026.

PayPal announced that PYUSD services would be extended to over 70 markets worldwide. Although support varies across regions, this move indicates that PayPal has begun to regard stablecoins as an important part of its global payment strategy.

Compared to Visa and Stripe, PayPal’s greatest advantage is its already mature consumer payment network. If future users gradually accept stablecoin payments, PayPal has the potential to leverage its existing ecosystem to accelerate adoption.

Therefore, PayPal’s competition is not just over stablecoin users but over the long-term entry point to the future global digital payment user base.

From MoneyGram to Mastercard, More Institutions Are Entering the Stablecoin Market

If a few years ago stablecoins were mainly a turf for crypto companies, by 2026, the market landscape has changed significantly.

In June 2026, global remittance giant MoneyGram announced the launch of its own US dollar stablecoin MGUSD. The news attracted attention not just because a new stablecoin was introduced but because MoneyGram has long been deeply involved in cross-border remittance markets. For such companies, stablecoins mean lower costs and higher efficiency in global fund flows.

Meanwhile, Mastercard is accelerating its layout. In March 2026, reports emerged that Mastercard planned to acquire stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for up to $1.8 billion. Then, in June 2026, Mastercard announced expanding stablecoin settlement capabilities and supporting multiple stablecoins including USDC, PYUSD, and RLUSD in settlement processes.

These actions send the same message: stablecoin payments have shifted from crypto industry competition to a global payment industry competition. The past focus was mainly on card networks, but future competition may revolve around digital dollar networks.

How Stablecoins Are Reshaping Global Fund Flows

For ordinary users, the biggest advantage of stablecoin payments might be faster transfers and lower fees. But from a macro perspective, the impact is far more profound.

Over the past decades, global fund flows have mainly relied on the banking system, SWIFT network, and various intermediaries. The emergence of stablecoins offers an alternative: value can move rapidly worldwide just like internet information.

This does not mean traditional financial systems will be replaced, but it indicates that a new layer of the global payment network is emerging.

More and more enterprises are trying to use stablecoins for international settlements, more payment institutions are supporting digital dollar networks, and more fintech companies are building new products around stablecoins. These changes are collectively pushing stablecoins from a trading tool to a payment tool, and further evolving into financial infrastructure.

As the cost of fund flows decreases, settlement efficiency improves, and payment networks become more open, the way global business operates may also change.

Why Institutional Funds Are Starting to Focus on Stablecoin Payment Tracks

For investment institutions, the appeal of stablecoin payments does not come from asset prices but from the business model.

Payments are a large-scale, long-standing market. Compared to crypto assets driven by market sentiment, payment networks can generate more stable cash flows and usage demands.

In recent years, institutional investors have focused more on trading platforms, Bitcoin ETFs, and crypto infrastructure. Now, more funds are beginning to research stablecoin issuers, payment networks, and financial infrastructure companies.

The reason is simple: if stablecoins can ultimately become an essential part of the global payment system, then the infrastructure built around stablecoins may have more long-term value than stablecoins themselves.

This explains why Visa, Stripe, PayPal, Mastercard, and MoneyGram are all entering this field. They are not competing for the next crypto hype but are vying for the core position in the global payment network over the next decade.

Summary

By 2026, stablecoin payments are no longer about “whether crypto payments can land,” but about “who can become the next-generation global payment infrastructure.” Visa is pushing banks to adopt USDC settlement, Stripe is building stablecoin financial infrastructure through Bridge, PayPal is expanding PYUSD’s global payment network, and Mastercard and MoneyGram are rapidly enhancing their stablecoin capabilities.

For the market, the value of stablecoins is shifting from a trading tool to a payment tool, and further into financial infrastructure. As more payment giants compete for entry points into stablecoin networks, the global fund flow system is undergoing profound changes. In the coming years, stablecoin payments are likely to become one of the most important directions for the integration of crypto and traditional finance.

FAQ

Why is stablecoin payment gaining widespread attention in 2026?

Stablecoin payments have entered real commercial scenarios. According to industry research data, in 2025, the scale of stablecoin payments reached several hundred billion dollars, with ongoing expansion into enterprise settlements and cross-border payments.

What does Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge signify?

In October 2024, Stripe acquired Bridge for about $1.1 billion, signaling its transition from a payment service provider to a stablecoin financial infrastructure provider.

Why is Visa promoting USDC settlement?

Visa aims to improve cross-border settlement efficiency while maintaining its core position in future digital payment networks.

Why is PayPal continuously promoting PYUSD?

PayPal wants to integrate stablecoins into its existing global payment network and leverage PYUSD to expand cross-border payments and digital finance scenarios.

Where are the biggest growth opportunities for stablecoin payments in the future?

Cross-border enterprise settlements, international trade payments, global remittances, and digital services payments are considered the most promising areas for future growth.