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

Author: Aaron Stanley; Compiled by: Jiahuan, ChainCatcher

The stablecoin cross-border payment industry is growing rapidly.

Earlier this month, hundreds of companies gathered in Mexico City for the Bitso Business stablecoin conference. Ask any one of them present, and the answer is the same: the technology is mature and available, the regulatory environment is improving, and transaction volumes are rising.

But spend some time talking to those who are 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. But on price, the industry hasn't yet lived up to its promises.

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

However, the deep liquidity pools that could truly realize this cost compression have not yet been built at scale.

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

Once banks start integrating directly, pricing will be driven down, and the equation will be rewritten.

Ahmad explained in an interview on the sidelines of the conference: 'They are faster, better — no question; they operate 24/7 — no question. But are they cheaper? Not yet. The liquidity pools need to be built first.'

Addressing the Trust Challenge

To bring this liquidity online requires some behavioral changes.

Imagine a mid-sized importer based 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 for a fraction of that cost.

But this importer may not measure the transaction in basis points. He thinks of the reliable agent who has managed his forex for ten years: the one who always answers the phone, who always gets things done.

This trust-based relationship is the real barrier to stablecoin adoption in B2B payments. It will only erode slowly: when the price gap becomes too large to ignore, when a new generation of practitioners no longer takes personal relationships for granted.

'Everything ultimately comes down to trust,' said Ezra Kebrab, CEO of Caliza. Caliza is a cross-border payment company that handles supplier payments and treasury management transactions between Latin America, North America, and Asia.

'It's not as simple as "I'm the cheapest and fastest option,"' Kebrab added. 'Do you know the consequences 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 that have truly gained market traction are precisely those that no longer treat existing infrastructure as an enemy.

Caliza's customers range from customs brokers in Santos to global payment processors like Flutterwave and India's Skydo; on the Latin America-to-China corridor, the company also partners with payment partner LianLian.

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

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

This willingness to work alongside traditional systems rather than against them has translated into sustained growth. Since its founding, Caliza has seen month-over-month growth of over 40%, and last month it reached 60%.

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

Bitso's Ahmad believes that over the past year, the growth momentum of stablecoin companies operating on these cross-border corridors has been remarkable; but given the structure and highly regulated nature of this business, he expects a natural shakeout to eventually arrive.

'The growth trajectory of these companies is fascinating to watch,' he said. 'There isn't a stablecoin company "graveyard" yet. But I think there will be one someday.'

In his view, who ultimately stands firm depends on three things: licenses, fiat corridors, and liquidity. 'Build these three, and you have a real business. Otherwise, you're just a middleman.'