Forbes Special: Stablecoin cross-border payments are faster, but not yet cheaper

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Author: Aaron Stanley

Translation: Jiahuan, ChainCatcher

The stablecoin cross-border payment industry is growing rapidly.

Earlier this month, hundreds of companies gathered at Bitso Business's stablecoin conference in Mexico City. Ask any company 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 you'll see a more nuanced picture: stablecoin-based cross-border payments are faster, more accessible, and increasingly reliable. However, in terms of cost, the industry has yet to deliver on its promise.

Where does the gap come from? Foreign exchange brokers typically charge 60 to 70 basis points for cross-border supplier payments. Stablecoins promise to compress this cost to 2 to 5 basis points. The direction is clear.

But the deep liquidity pools needed to make this cost compression a reality haven't been built at scale yet.

Imran Ahmad, head of Bitso Business—the B2B arm of one of Latin America's largest crypto exchanges—puts it bluntly: until institutional liquidity floods these corridors, stablecoins' cost advantage remains theoretical.

Once banks start connecting directly, pricing will be pressured down, and the math will change.

Ahmad explained in an interview on the sidelines of the conference: "They are faster, better—no doubt about that; they operate 24/7, no doubt about that either. But are they cheaper? Not yet. Liquidity pools need to be built first."

Addressing the Trust Problem

Bringing this liquidity online requires some behavioral changes.

Imagine a mid-sized importer in Santos, Brazil (the largest port in Latin America), who has been processing payments through the same local forex broker for years.

That broker charges 60 to 70 basis points. In theory, a stablecoin solution could complete the same payment at a fraction of that cost.

But that importer may not measure the transaction in basis points. What comes to mind is the trusted agent who has managed his forex for a decade: the one who always answers the phone, who always gets things done.

This relationship built on trust 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 when a new generation of practitioners no longer takes personal relationships for granted.

"It all comes down to trust," said Ezra Kebrab, CEO of Caliza, a cross-border payment company handling supplier payments and treasury management transactions between Latin America, North America, and Asia.

"It's not just 'I am the cheapest, fastest solution,'" Kebrab added. "Do you know what happens if this payment doesn't meet the counterparty's requirements?"

Complementing Swift, Not Replacing It

Contrary to some rhetoric in the stablecoin payment 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; for the Latin America-to-China corridor, the company also partners with payment partner LianLian.

Despite running on stablecoin rails, Caliza still routes many transactions through Swift. The reason: in supplier payments, getting the payment right is as important as getting it fast. A remittance with a wrong tax ID or missing payment fields could hold goods in customs indefinitely.

"Some of my peers might call themselves 'Swift killers,'" Kebrab said, "but I think Swift has done an excellent job in establishing the standardization needed for supplier payments."

This willingness to work alongside—rather than against—traditional systems translates into sustained growth. Since its founding, Caliza has grown over 40% month-over-month, reaching 60% last month.

To avoid relying on intermediaries, the company built its own licenses and banking relationships from scratch. That decision seemed costly early on, but now increasingly looks like a competitive advantage.

Bitso's Ahmad believes that the growth of stablecoin companies operating in these cross-border corridors over the past year has been impressive; but given the structural and highly regulated nature of the business, he expects a natural shakeout to come.

"The growth trajectories of these companies are fascinating to watch," he said. "There is no 'stablecoin company graveyard' yet. But I think one day there will be."

In his view, what ultimately determines who survives comes down to three things: licenses, fiat on/off ramps, and liquidity. Build these three, and you have a real business. "Otherwise, you're just a middleman."